Improving the quality of clinical care for patients with osteoporosis

Abstract

Osteoporosis, leading to hip fractures and other fragility fractures, is prevalent in countries with a high life expectancy. Fractures have a high associated societal cost and disease burden. As a result, many countries have established screening guidelines for osteoporosis, especially targeting those at a higher risk. However, primary- and secondary-fracture prevention is currently suboptimal despite existence of effective medications. In addition, adherence to therapy is low. This special report outlines some of these challenges and evaluates different techniques for improving the quality of clinical care for patients with osteoporosis.

Keywords::

• alendronate
• bone fractures
• continuing medical education
• osteoporosis
• patient compliance
• physician behavior
• quality of health care
• risedronate
• teriparatide

Acknowledgement

Dr Palonen was employed by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (AL, USA) while writing the manuscript.