Metasynthesis of Patient Attitudes Toward Bone Densitometry

Osteoporosis Care Gap After Hip Fracture - Worse With Low Healthcare Access and Quality

Despite the burden of osteoporosis-related fractures and availability of effective treatment, a substantial osteoporosis care gap persists. We evaluated this gap following fragility hip fracture, testing the hypothesis that patients who live in areas with low health care access or quality are less likely to undergo evaluation or treatment following hip fragility fracture. This retrospective analysis quantified osteoporosis evaluation and treatment just prior and for 12 mo following fragility hip fracture at an academic medical center in the upper Midwest. Initiation of pharmacologic therapy, Vitamin D screening and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanning were measured. Each patient was assigned a value for 3 metrics of regional healthcare access and quality: (1) population per PCP ratio, (2) percent un-insured <65 yrs old, and (3) preventable hospitalization >65 yrs old. Generalized estimating equations, with county as a random effect, were used to assess the association of patient characteristics and/or heath care metrics with osteoporosis treatment at the time of admission and/or osteoporosis evaluation and treatment during hospitalization and post-discharge. A total of 585 patients were 80.7 ± 8.4 yrs of age at the time of hip fragility fracture; 68% were women. In 12 mo post-fracture, 17% underwent vitamin D screening, 12% received a DXA scan and 17% began a new bone anti-resorptive medication. Only in-hospital Vitamin D screening was more common in patients from counties with low healthcare access; all other pre- and post-fracture care was more common for patients with greater healthcare access and quality. Overall rates of initiating pharmacologic treatment and/or obtaining a Vitamin D screen or DXA scan following hip fragility fracture were very low and were worse in patients from counties with low access and quality of healthcare. These results remind the practitioner to diagnose and treat osteoporosis following hip fracture and suggests a role for targeting high-risk groups.

Cultivating across "pockets of excellence": challenges to sustaining efforts to improve osteoporosis care

We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with clinicians involved in bone health care to understand the challenges of implementing and sustaining bone health care interventions. Participants identified individual- and system-level challenges to care delivery, implementation, and sustainment. We discuss opportunities to address challenges through a commitment to relationship- and infrastructure-building support.

PURPOSE

Osteoporosis and fracture-related sequalae exact significant individual and societal costs; however, identification and treatment of at-risk patients are troublingly low, especially among men. The purpose of this study was to identify challenges to implementing and sustaining bone health care delivery interventions in the Veterans Health Administration.

METHODS

We conducted interviews with endocrinologists, pharmacists, primary care physicians, rheumatologists, and orthopedic surgeons involved in bone health care (n = 20). Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. To determine thematic domains, we engaged in an iterative, qualitative content analysis of the transcripts.

RESULTS

Participants reported multiple barriers to delivering bone health care and to sustaining the initiatives designed to address delivery challenges. Challenges of bone health care delivery existed at both the individual level-a lack of patient and clinician awareness and competing clinical demands-and the system level-multiple points of entry to bone health care, a dispersion of patient management, and guideline variability. To address the challenges, participants developed initiatives targeting the identification of at-risk patients, clinician education, increasing communication, and care coordination. Sustaining initiatives, however, was challenged by staff turnover and the inability to achieve and maintain priority status for bone health care.

CONCLUSION

The multiple, multi-level barriers to bone health care affect both care delivery processes and sustainment of initiatives to improve those processes. Barriers to care delivery, while tempered by intervention, are entangled and persist alongside sustainment challenges. These challenges require relationship- and infrastructure-building support.

Improving bone health: addressing the burden through an integrated approach

As people age, maintaining mobility becomes increasingly imperative, therefore addressing bone health is the most important way to preserve mobility. Poor bone health encompasses a broad spectrum of diseases, but it is most often quantified as the cumulative burden of osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures. Rates of these fractures have been increasing and are expected to continue rising globally, attributed to increasing life expectancy worldwide. No single strategy will be sufficient to address this global public health issue. Co-ordination across a wide array of stakeholders is vital to decrease the health and socioeconomic burden of poor bone health. Stakeholders include an assortment of specialists ranging from health professionals (primary and secondary care clinicians, nurses, physical therapists, and social care workers), policy-makers, government bodies (including departments of health and social services), employers, civil society, as well as patients and their caregivers.  We need to ensure that there is a better understanding of the socioeconomic and health consequences of poor bone health to promote better policies to address needs. Building a more resilient health system approach to bone health based on the evidence and sound decision-making will not only improve population health, but will provide cost savings to health systems by preventing poor bone health in the first place. Health systems around the world must prioritise bone health to preserve mobility and wellbeing in advance of the impending surge in demand from ageing populations. Poor bone health is not an inevitable part of ageing. Working across the lifespan, we can all benefit from improved bone health throughout our lives.

Perspectives of patients with depression and chronic pain about bone health after a fragility fracture: A qualitative study

Background

Compromised bone health is often associated with depression and chronic pain.

Objective

To examine: (1) the experience of existing depression and chronic nonfracture pain in patients with a fragility fracture; and (2) the effects of the fracture on depression and pain.

Design

A phenomenological study guided by Giorgi's analytical procedures.

Setting and Participants

Fracture patients who reported taking prescription medication for one or more comorbidities, excluding compromised bone health.

Main Variables Studied

Patients were interviewed within 6 weeks of their fracture, and 1 year later. Interview questions addressed the recent fracture and patients' experience with bone health and their other health conditions, such as depression and chronic pain, including the medications taken for these conditions.

Results

Twenty‐six patients (5 men, 21 women) aged 45–84 years old with hip (n = 5) and nonhip (n = 21) fractures were recruited. Twenty‐one participants reported depression and/or chronic nonfracture pain, of which seven reported having both depression and chronic pain. Two themes were consistent, based on our analysis: (1) depression and chronic pain overshadowed attention to bone health; and (2) the fracture exacerbated reported experiences of existing depression and chronic pain.

Conclusion

Experiences with depression and pain take priority over bone health and may worsen as a result of the fracture. Health care providers treating fragility fractures might ask patients about depression and pain and take appropriate steps to address patients' more general emotional and physical state.

Patient Contribution

A patient representative was involved in the study conception, data interpretation and manuscript writing.

Attitudes toward bone health among rural-dwelling veterans identified as at risk of fracture: a qualitative analysis

Although much is known about system‐level barriers to prevention and treatment of bone health problems, little is known about patient‐level barriers. The objective of this study was to identify factors limiting engagement in bone health care from the perspective of rural‐dwelling patients with known untreated risk. Over 6 months, 39 patients completed a qualitative interview. Interview questions focused on the patient's experience of care, their decision to not accept care, as well as their knowledge of osteoporosis and the impact it has had on their lives. Participants were well‐informed and could adequately describe osteoporosis and its deleterious effects, and their decision making around accepting or declining a dual‐energy x‐ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan and treatment was both cautious and intentional. Decisions about how to engage in treatment were tempered by expectations for quality of life. Our findings suggest that people hold beliefs about bone health treatment that we can build on. Work to improve care of this population needs to recognize that bone health providers are not adding a behavior of medication taking to patients, they are changing a behavior or belief. Published 2021. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Uptake of an exercise class and use of bone density measurement after advice by the health insurance fund: results from the osteoporotic fracture prevention program in rural areas (OFRA)

BACKGROUND

OFRA is a large health insurance fund-driven program which aims to reduce the risk of falls and fractures in older people living in rural areas. The programme offered specific mobility and falls prevention classes and bone density measurement by a DXA scan free of charge to more than 10,000 people, and was promoted by staff of the health insurance fund either by a visit at home, or a phone call, or a visit at home and a subsequent phone call. The aim of this study was to analyse the uptake of an exercise class and the use of a DXA scan after advice.

METHODS

Telephone interviews were conducted in a randomly selected subgroup of 780 persons 9 months after first contact. Rates of uptake of an exercise class or use of a DXA scan were calculated. Predictors of uptake and use were analysed applying logistic regression models.

RESULTS

The rate of uptake after advice for specific mobility and fall prevention class was 29.6%. For DXA scan, the rate of use after advice was 16.7%. Rates of uptake and use increased if the first contact by a visit at home or a phone call was followed by an additional subsequent phone call.

CONCLUSION

A direct motivational approach in older people by a health insurance fund is feasible and results in relevant participation and utilization rates in exercise classes and DXA scans.

Factors Associated With Osteoporosis Care of Men Hospitalized for Hip Fracture: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Rates of postfracture DXA and pharmacotherapy appear to be declining despite their known benefits in fracture reduction. We sought to identify factors associated with osteoporosis care among male veterans aged 50 years and older after hip fracture and to evaluate trends in rates of care with an observational cohort design using US Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) inpatient, pharmacy, and outpatient encounters and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services outpatient pharmacy claims (2007 to 2014) from men aged 50 years and older treated for hip fracture (N = 7317). We used the Cox proportional hazards model with random effects for the admitting facility. A sensitivity analysis was performed for a subset of patients aged 65 to 99 dually enrolled in Medicare ( N = 5821). Overall, approximately 13% of patients had evidence of osteoporosis care within one year of fracture. In the adjusted model, rural residence was associated with lower likelihood of care, and several comorbidities were associated with higher likelihood of receiving care. In sensitivity analyses of patients dually enrolled in Medicare, rural residence remained associated with lower likelihood of osteoporosis care. Overall rates of care decreased over time, but rates of DXA in the VA remained stable. These findings highlight the ongoing problem of low rates of postfracture care among a population with the highest risk of future fracture and its associated morbidity and mortality. The rural disparity in care and differences in rates of care across healthcare delivery systems illustrates the importance of healthcare delivery systems in promoting pharmacotherapy and DXA after sentinel events. Because the VA removes a majority of cost barriers to care, this integrated healthcare system may outperform the private sector in access to care. However, declining rates of pharmacotherapy imply knowledge gaps that undermine quality care. © 2019 The Authors. JBMR Plus is published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Opportunistic Screening for Osteoporosis Using Computed Tomography: State of the Art and Argument for Paradigm Shift

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Osteoporosis is disproportionately common in rheumatology patients. For the past three decades, the diagnosis of osteoporosis has benefited from well-established practice guidelines that emphasized the use of dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Despite these guidelines and the wide availability of DXA, approximately two thirds of eligible patients do not undergo testing. One strategy to improve osteoporosis testing is to employ computed tomography (CT) examinations obtained as part of routine patient care to "opportunistically" screen for osteoporosis, without additional cost or radiation exposure to patients. This review examines the role of opportunistic CT in the evaluation of osteoporosis.

RECENT FINDINGS

Recent evidence suggests that opportunistic measurement of bone attenuation (radiodensity) using CT has sensitivity comparable to DXA. More importantly, such an approach has been shown to predict osteoporotic fractures. The paradigm shift of using CTs obtained for other reasons to opportunistically screen for osteoporosis promises to substantially improve patient care.