The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American). 2009;91:2376-2380.
doi:10.2106/JBJS.H.01871
© 2009 The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow CME: Take the activity for this article:
 CME 4: October, November, December 2009 (publication date January 4, 2010; ...
Right arrow [Supplementary Material]
Right arrow Letters to the Editor: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when Letters to the Editor are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Rights and Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gong, H. S.
Right arrow Articles by Baek, G. H.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Gong, H. S.
Right arrow Articles by Baek, G. H.
Related Collections
Right arrow Adult Trauma
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Facebook   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Patients with Wrist Fractures Are Less Likely to Be Evaluated and Managed for Osteoporosis

Hyun Sik Gong, MD, PhD1, Won Seok Oh, MD1, Moon Sang Chung, MD, PhD1, Joo Han Oh, MD, PhD1, Young Ho Lee, MD, PhD1 and Goo Hyun Baek, MD, PhD1

1 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 300 Gumi-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, 463-707, South Korea. E-mail address for H.S. Gong: hsgong{at}snu.ac.kr

Investigation performed at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, South Korea

Disclosure: The authors did not receive any outside funding or grants in support of their research for or preparation of this work. Neither they nor a member of their immediate families received payments or other benefits or a commitment or agreement to provide such benefits from a commercial entity.

A commentary is available with the electronic versions of this article, on our web site (www.jbjs.org) and on our quarterly CD-ROM/DVD (call our subscription department, at 781-449-9780, to order the CD-ROM or DVD).

Background: Although osteoporosis is being evaluated and treated increasingly in elderly patients with fragility fractures, some studies have suggested that physicians may be missing important opportunities, especially in patients with nonvertebral fractures. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether specialists responsible for treating fractures at various locations have different propensities for evaluating and treating osteoporosis after a fracture in female patients over the age of fifty years.

Methods: A retrospective nationwide cohort study was performed with use of data collected during 2007 by the Korean Health Insurance Review Agency, which covers 97% of the population. The incidences of fractures around the hip, spine, and wrist in female patients more than fifty years of age and the frequencies of bone density scans for osteoporosis and the use of medications for its treatment were analyzed and compared.

Results: The database identified 31,540 hip fractures, 58,291 spine fractures, and 61,234 wrist fractures in female patients who were more than fifty years of age in Korea during 2007. Of these patients, 7095 (22.5%) with a hip fracture, 16,779 (28.8%) with a spine fracture, and 5348 (8.7%) with a wrist fracture underwent diagnostic bone density scans. Furthermore, 7060 patients (22.4%) with a hip fracture, 17,551 (30.1%) with a spine fracture, and 4594 (7.5%) with a wrist fracture were managed with at least one medication approved for the treatment of osteoporosis.

Conclusions: Despite a recent increase in the recognition of osteoporosis in patients with fragility fractures, our review of this national cohort indicates that patients with a wrist fracture are less likely to be evaluated and managed for osteoporosis than those with a hip or spine fracture by physicians who are responsible for treating symptomatic fractures. Additional studies and intervention programs are necessary to improve this care gap, beginning with physicians who are responsible for fracture treatment.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?