Communication is the key to preventing secondary osteoporosis-related fractures, an international coalition asserts.
The group aims to boost the level of preventive treatment currently provided to seniors who have suffered hip or vertebral fractures, said senior author Douglas P. Kiel, M.D., of Harvard University Medical School. These are the fractures that put seniors at particularly high risk of dangerous and costly subsequent fracture, he said.
To that end, the 42-member coalition has published a new set of fracture prevention recommendations based on a review of clinical evidence. The recommendations encourage clinicians to engage with patients about fracture risk, mortality and morbidity outcomes, and risk reduction.
Beyond improving awareness, the coalition reported that it plans to help to create national fracture registries. It will also work with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on setting financial and quality of care-related reimbursement for older adults who have sustained a fracture, Kiel said.
The group’s fracture prevention recommendations were published this month in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. The coalition was assembled by the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
