Education materials increase osteoporosis treatment in elderly spine fracture patients

Emergency room physicians are more likely to screen and treat for osteoporosis in elderly patients with spinal fractures when they are presented with osteoporosis treatment guidelines, according to research published in The American Journal of Medicine.

“These fractures identified in chest X-rays are associated with a 20-fold increase of future fractures in people with osteoporosis – and these can be devastating fractures like fractures of the hip that can lead to nursing home admission or death,” Sumit R. Majumdar, MD, MPH, from the Department of Medicine at the University of Alberta in Alberta, Canada, stated in a press release. “What was also concerning is that two-thirds of the patients in the study had a previously documented wrist or hip fracture before the X-ray was done, but they never received osteoporosis treatment.”

The researchers divided the patients into three groups – in one group, physicians were contacted with osteoporosis education guidelines and recommendations, while only patients were contacted in a second group. In a third group, both physicians and patients were contacted and the researchers established a control where no one was contacted, according to the abstract.

While 6% of patients in the control were treated at follow-up and tested for osteoporosis, 49% of patients were treated or tested when physicians received the education material. When both physicians and patients were targeted for osteoporosis intervention, the number increased to 65%, according to the release.

“The information we provided was not new,” Majumdar said, “But the fact that it was linked to a specific patient and had specific advice, it acted as a reminder about what actions family doctors could take when they next saw that patient.”

Reference:

Majumdar SR. Am J Med. 2012;doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2012.02.021.

Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.