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By Karla Gale
ORLANDO, Fla., Mar 08 (Reuters Health) - Osteoporosis appears to be taking a back seat to other problems when it comes to treating nursing home residents, according to data presented on Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics here.
Dr. Carlos Rojas-Fernandez, of Texas Tech University in Amarillo, and colleagues looked at data on nearly 30,000 nursing home residents with osteoporosis in Kansas, Mississippi, New York, South Dakota and Maine.
"The prevalence of osteoporosis was only 6%, but we know (from previous studies) that the prevalence is actually much higher," Rojas-Fernandez told Reuters Health. "What this told us is that we have many patients with osteoporosis who have not been diagnosed."
Even among those diagnosed, only about 25% received treatment for the bone-thinning disorder. Such treatment can include calcium supplements, vitamins, bisphosphonate drugs or other medications.
Patients who had fallen or broken a bone within the previous 6 months were no more likely than their counterparts to be receiving treatment. Patients over 85 were less likely to be treated than those aged 65 to 74. The likelihood of osteoporosis treatment fell as the number of medical diagnoses increased.
"Perhaps physicians perceive that by winding up in a nursing home, patients don't have long to live, so why bother," Rojas-Fernandez said. "In our study, people with a terminal prognosis were much less likely to be treated. Sometimes it's the case; many times it's not the case."
The result, he suspects, is that "people who do not receive any treatment will experience more fractures, hospitalizations, and all the (illness) that goes along with that, which is quite significant and quite important."
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