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Study: Fewer men receive osteoporosis evaluation after distal radial fracture
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Following a distal radial fracture, significantly fewer men received evaluation for osteoporosis compared with women, and evaluation rates were significantly below those established in published guidelines, according to study results.
Researchers retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 95 men and 344 women older than 50 who were treated for a distal radial fracture during a 5-year period, and assessed whether the patients had received a dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan and osteoporosis treatment within 6 months following the injury. Using multivariate analysis, the researchers then identified independent predictors of bone mineral density testing and osteoporosis treatment.
Overall, men had less severe fractures compared with women women. Study results showed 53% of women had a DXA scan after injury vs. 18% of men. Among those patients, the researchers found 9% of men overall and 19% of women overall had a diagnosis of osteoporosis.
Not only was male sex an independent predictor of failure to undergo bone mineral density testing, it was also a predictor of failure to receive subsequent treatment with calcium and vitamin D or bisphosphonates, according to the researchers.
“We think it’s important to reinforce the fact that osteoporosis is not just a woman’s disease,” Tamara D. Rozental, MD, an investigator in the department of orthopedic surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said in a press release about the study. “Treating men for bone fractures, but not the underlying cause, places them at a greater risk for future bone breaks and related complications.”
Rozental added that the results of the study indicated men older than 50 with distal radius fractures should undergo further clinical assessment and bone density testing to better identify those at high risk for future fracture, in addition to identifying patients who may benefit from additional treatment.
Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.
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