Pharmacists in Northumberland, where the hip fracture hospital admission rate is one of the highest in the UK, spearheaded the study and included subjects from North Tyneside, which has a high mortality rate after falls.
According to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), women who have had a previous "fragility" bone fracture or are diagnosed with osteoporosis1; and women over 75 with osteoporosis, or who have had a fragility fracture; should receive treatment with calcium/vitamin D3 and bisphosphonate, and for an array of reasons that is not being done.
Wasim Baqir, the Research and Development Lead Pharmacist for Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust and a Primary Care Pharmacist said: "It's very important that people who are at risk of falling and fracturing bones receive appropriate bone protection treatment. Pharmacists have a key role to play in helping patients understand the importance of why they are prescribed these preventative medicines, and what the consequences can be if they don't take them."
Results from the study show that of the patients found to be at risk of future fractures, only half were receiving the recommended bone protection treatment (calcium/vitamin D3 with a bisphosphonate). Those individuals 74 and younger and at risk should have treatment based on the results of a bone scan, but the study showed this occurred in only a quarter of all cases.
Pharmacy research into medicine-taking for osteoporosis in Glasgow, Scotland, found that of the 353 at-risk patients, 70 percent were on osteoporosis prevention therapy.
The reasons patients listed for not taking their medicine included that they: forgot (46 percent); disliked the taste (22 percent); were fed up taking it (7 percent) and were unsure of the indication (2 percent). Others did not understand sufficient detail about the appropriate way to take the medication.
About 80 percent of the 10 million Americans with osteoporosis are women.
In Scotland where the study was partly conducted, one in three women and one in 12 men over the age of 50 are affected by osteoporosis, resulting in 20,000 bone fractures every year.
