Follow-up osteoporosis management programs for older women who have experienced a fracture can greatly improve their overall outcomes, a new study suggests.

While post-fracture care can include bone mineral density screening and subsequent treatment, many older fracture patients do not receive such follow-up, say researchers at Kaiser Permanente Centre for Health Research in Portland, OR.

When investigators closely monitored nearly 3,600 women with a previous fracture the use of osteoporosis management programs jumped from 13% to 44%. Such management could greatly improve secondary prevention of osteoporosis and decrease subsequent fracture risks, according to the researchers in their report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.