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Undertreatment of osteoporosis in regional Western Australia
Author(s) -
Lai Michelle Mei Yee,
Ang Wan Mei,
McGuiness Marjory,
Larke Amanda Barbara
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.2011.00544.x
Subject(s) - medicine , osteoporosis , vitamin d and neurology , logistic regression , medical prescription , hip fracture , bisphosphonate , cross sectional study , demography , physical therapy , nursing , pathology , sociology
Aim: To identify the geographic differences in osteoporosis management. Methods: In this cross‐sectional study, osteoporosis treatments in older patients presented to a hip fracture unit from mid 2005–2009 were analysed. Logistic regression was used to examine the association of rural residency with osteoporosis treatments. Results: Among 1130 patients (20% rural, mean age 81.1 years), there was a low prescription rate for osteoporosis among rural patients. Rural patients were 65% less likely to use vitamin D, 60% less likely to use calcium and 46% less likely to use bisphosphonates before a hip fracture than their urban counterparts. Their compliance with vitamin D and calcium was also lower at 1 year but improved significantly over the study period, whereas compliance with bisphosphonate decreased in both regions. Conclusion: Undertreatment of osteoporosis was common in rural patients. These findings need to be confirmed by larger population‐based studies.