Women who do not comply with treatment instructions for osteoporosis or who do not respond to treatment are more likely to suffer further fractures, which seriously affects their quality of life.
There is an urgent need to provide support to these patients and address their issues when new therapies are assessed and new treatment guidelines drawn up, according to lead researcher Professor Cyrus Cooper from the MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre, University of Southampton, in the UK. His findings will be published in the April issue of Osteoporosis International, a Springer journal.
Osteoporosis is an increasing global health problem and currently available therapies have been shown to reduce the risk of fragility fractures in postmenopausal women. Most patients gain bone mineral density within a year of treatment. However, surveys of osteoporotic patients show that compliance to treatment is low in practice, and up to 50% of patients stop their treatment within a year due in part to side-effects. In addition, clinical trials show that osteoporotic fractures have physical, psychological and social implications that can seriously affect patients' quality of life.