Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Until recently, treatment recommendations for bone health were based on whether someone had osteoporosis or osteopenia. Health care providers are now switching from telling their patients that they have osteoporosis or osteopenia, to telling their patients that they have a certain risk for future fracture. It is hoped that telling patients about their fracture risk, instead of osteoporosis or osteopenia, will encourage them to accept treatment for their bone health. Forty-nine countries in the world have their own version of bone health guidelines that include information about fracture risk. We propose to examine those guidelines and to determine how each country deals with measuring fracture risk in individuals. We are also interested in how a person's fracture risk leads to a treatment plan for bone health. Our examination of guidelines will identify gaps in our knowledge about fracture risk and potential research priorities we could address. It will also identify areas of disagreement which need to be discussed by experts in the field. We will present our results at an international meeting of experts in bone health and fracture risk. At that meeting, we will also discuss how we can create a working group within the International Osteoporosis Foundation to address research projects on the topic of fracture risk. It is important that we have a better understanding of how the concept of fracture risk is interpreted by the different guidelines of the world. Ultimately, patients who have a significant risk for future fracture should be treated for their bone health. Because appropriate treatment could prevent future fractures, appropriate treatment will decrease fracture-related health care costs in Canada including admission to hospitals, extended care facilities, and nursing homes.