Fragility fracture care gap at a tertiary teaching hospital in Malaysia

• Main Authors: Cheah, Min Hui, Lai, Pauline Siew Mei, Khor, Hui Min, Ratnasingam, Jeyakantha, Chandrasekaran, C. Sankara Kumar, Singh, Simmrat, Zakaria, Mohd Idzwan, Ong, Terence
• Format: Article
• Published: Springer London Ltd 2023
• Subjects: RC Internal medicine
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/38253/

Fracture begets fracture, pharmacological treatment is needed to prevent secondary fractures. This study found that there was a fragility fracture care gap where both bone health investigations and treatment initiation rates were low. Strategies such as Fracture Liaison Service is needed to address the care gap.PurposeThis study aimed to investigate the clinical burden and secondary fracture prevention of fragility fractures at a tertiary teaching hospital in Malaysia.MethodsElectronic medical records of all patients admitted with fragility fractures between 1 January 2017-31 December 2018 were reviewed. Patients < 50 years old, with non-fragility fractures, restricted access to medical records, transferred to another hospital or who passed away during admission were excluded. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise patients' characteristics, frequency of fragility fractures, and secondary fracture prevention details. Binomial logistic regression was performed to analyse predictive factors for post-fracture bone health assessments and treatment initiation.Results1030 patients female (767/1030, 74.5%)] presented with 1071 fractures hip fractures (378/1071, 35.3%)]. 170/993 (17.1%) patients were initiated on anti-osteoporosis medications (AOMs) and 148/984 (15.0%) had bone mineral density (BMD) performed within 1-year post-fracture. Less than half (42.4%) of the patients remained on treatment at 1-year post-fracture. Older patients 65-74 years old: odds ratio (OR) = 2.18, 95%CI 1.05-4.52, p = 0.04; >= 75 years: OR = 3.06, 95%CI 1.54-6.07, p < 0.01], hip fractures (OR = 1.95, 95%CI 1.23-3.11, p < 0.01), Chinese ethnicity (OR = 1.90, 95%CI 1.07-3.35, p = 0.03),previously diagnosed with osteoporosis (OR = 2.65, 95%CI:1.32-5.31, p < 0.01) and a BMD test performed (OR = 12.48, 95%CI 8.04-19.37, p < 0.01) were found to have higher AOM initiation. Patients with past diagnosis of osteoporosis (OR = 4.45, 95%CI 2.25-8.81, p < 0.01) and initiated on AOM (OR = 11.34, 95%CI 7.57-16.97, p < 0.01) had a higher likelihood to undergo BMD testing.ConclusionThe AOM initiation and BMD testing rates were low. There is a need to address the fragility fracture care gap with strategies such as Fracture Liaison Service.