Infrautilización de fármacos antiosteoporóticos por traumatólogos…(I)

Kousuke Iba1 , Junichi Takada2, Naoko Hatakeyama1, Mitsunori Kaya1, Satoshi Isogai1, Hajime Tsuda1, Hiroyuki Obata1, Suichi Miyano3 and Toshihiko Yamashita1

(1) Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, South-1, West-16, Chuo-ku, Sapporo 060-8543, Japan (2) Divison of Orthopaedic Surgery, Chitose City Hospital, Chitose, Japan (3) Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, Sunagawa Municipal Hospital, Sunagawa, Japan

Abstract

Background Despite the availability of effective treatment and well-publicized treatment guidelines for preventing osteoporotic fractures, there are significant gaps in implementing the recommendations, and it is unknown how many patients are treated for prevention of secondary osteoporotic fractures. In this study, we investigate what percentage of osteoporosis patients were treated with antiosteoporotic drugs after osteoporotic fractures of the hip, wrist, and proximal humerus, and we discuss here the need for improvement in the treatment of osteoporosis following fracture.

Methods We studied 422 patients with osteoporotic fractures, 91 men and 331 women, with an average age of 77.1 years (range, 52–102 years). The 422 cases consisted of 299 hip fractures, 97 distal radius fractures, and 26 proximal humerus fractures. All patients underwent surgical intervention. The variables were examined to ascertain whether osteoporosis patients were medicated with antiosteoporotic drugs at postfracture.

Results Fifty-five (13%) of the 422 patients received antiosteoporotic medication at postfracture. Pharmaceutical treatment was given in 44 cases (14.7%) of hip fractures, 8 cases (8.2%) of distal radius fractures, and 3 cases (11.5%) of proximal humerus fractures. Thirty-one (7.3% of total) of the 55 patients were taking the same medication pre- and postfracture. Seven (1.7%) of the 55 were administered a different drug compared to before the fracture, and 17 (4%) started to take an antiosteoporotic drug for the first time subsequent to the fracture.

Conclusions The present rate of treatment is insufficient given the high risk of secondary fractures and the availability of appropriate drugs that would reduce that risk.