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Stroke often ‘missed opportunity’ to screen, treat osteoporosis
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Osteoporosis screening and treatment was infrequently performed in patients with recent stroke, according to a study published in Stroke.
“This study offers more evidence that there is a missed opportunity to identify people with stroke at increased risk of fractures, and to initiate treatment to prevent bone loss and fractures,” Moira K. Kapral, MD, MSc, FRCPC, professor of medicine and director of the division of general internal medicine at the University of Toronto, said in a press release.
Eshita Kapoor, HBSc, medical student at University of Toronto, and colleagues analyzed data from 16,581 patients from the Ontario Stroke Registry older than 65 years who had a stroke between July 2003 and March 2012. Outcomes of interest were screening for osteoporosis with bone mineral density testing and prescriptions for osteoporosis treatment/prevention within 1 year after stroke.
Of the patients in the study, 5.1% underwent bone mineral density testing, with 2.9% who previously never underwent the testing. Osteoporosis pharmacotherapy was prescribed to 15.5% of patients within 1 year after stroke, and 3.2% were not previously prescribed therapy.
Patients who were not prescribed osteoporosis medications a year before their stroke and were given therapy after their stroke were more likely to be women, and to have prior bone mineral density testing, prior fractures, prior osteoporosis, and falls and fractures after their stroke.
“Future work should focus on the identification of patients at high risk and the development of interventions to improve the quality of osteoporosis care after stroke,” Kapoor and colleagues wrote. – by Darlene Dobkowski
Disclosures: Kapral and Kapoor report no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the study for all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.
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