Treatment of osteoporosis in Australia needs improvement
Many patients are not informed they have osteoporosis and are not given a bone mineral density test to confirm diagnosis. Many patients were also poorly managed once being discharged from hospital.
Dr Charles Inderjeeth and colleagues from the School of Population Health UWA reported these findings in a recent edition of the Internal Medicine Journal (IMJ), the official journal of the Adult Medicine Division of The Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
It showed that in Australia over half of all women (56%) and approximately one third of all men over 60 will be affected in their lifetime by osteoporosis. By 2051 Australia can expect over 200,000 osteoporotic fractures per year and over 60,000 fractured necks of femurs.