Patients' preferences for fracture risk communication: the Risk Communication in Osteoporosis (RICO) study.

The RICO study indicated that most patients would like to receive information regarding their fracture risk but that only a small majority have actually received it. Patients globally preferred a visual presentation of fracture risk and were interested in an online tool showing the risk. PURPOSE: The aim of the Risk Communication in Osteoporosis (RICO) study was to assess patients' preferences regarding fracture risk communication. METHODS: To assess patients' preferences for fracture risk communication, structured interviews with women with osteoporosis or who were at risk for fracture were conducted in 11 sites around the world, namely in Argentina, Belgium, Canada at Hamilton and with participants from the Osteoporosis Canada Canadian Osteoporosis Patient Network (COPN), Japan, Mexico, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK, and the USA in California and Washington state. The interviews used to collect data were designed on the basis of a systematic review and a qualitative pilot study involving 26 participants at risk of fracture. RESULTS: A total of 332 women (mean age 67.5 ± 8.0 years, 48% with a history of fracture) were included in the study. Although the participants considered it important to receive information about their fracture risk (mean importance of 6.2 ± 1.4 on a 7-point Likert scale), only 56% (i.e. 185/332) had already received such information. Globally, participants preferred a visual presentation with a traffic-light type of coloured graph of their FRAX® fracture risk probability, compared to a verbal or written presentation. Almost all participants considered it important to discuss their fracture risk and the consequences of fractures with their healthcare professionals in addition to receiving information in a printed format or access to an online website showing their fracture risk. CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant communication gap between healthcare professionals and patients when discussing osteoporosis fracture risk. The RICO study provides insight into preferred approaches to rectify this communication gap.

Trabecular Bone Score in Patients With Chronic Glucocorticoid Therapy-Induced Osteoporosis Treated With Alendronate or Teriparatide.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of alendronate (ALN) and teriparatide on trabecular bone score (TBS) in patients with glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis. METHODS: Patients with chronic glucocorticoid therapy-induced osteoporosis (median 7.5 mg/day prednisone equivalent for ≥90 days) were randomized to receive oral ALN 10 mg/day (n = 214) or subcutaneous teriparatide 20 µg/day (n = 214) for 36 months; 118 patients in the ALN group and 123 patients in the teriparatide group completed treatment. Dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) results for 53 patients receiving ALN and 56 patients receiving teriparatide who had DXA scans with adequate resolution to perform TBS analysis and completed 36 months of therapy were blindly analyzed for TBS at baseline and 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months. RESULTS: In teriparatide-treated patients, TBS was significantly increased at 18 months compared to baseline, and by 36 months had increased 3.7% (P < 0.05). In ALN-treated patients, there was not a significant change in TBS compared to baseline at any time point. Changes in lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) measured by DXA in the subgroup with TBS data were similar to BMD results in the overall study population. At 36 months, increases in lumbar spine BMD were 5.5% and 10.3% in patients treated with ALN and teriparatide, respectively. CONCLUSION: In patients with glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis, both ALN and teriparatide increased lumbar spine BMD. However, trabecular bone score significantly increased with teriparatide but did not significantly change with ALN. The pathogenesis of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis is predominantly reduced bone formation. TBS may represent a sensitive measure to discriminate treatment effects of an anabolic versus an antiresorptive drug in glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis.

Confounders in the association between exercise and femur bone in postmenopausal women.

INTRODUCTION: Abundant animal and human evidence demonstrates that loading stimuli generate positive adaptive changes in bone, but effects of activity on bone mineral density (BMD) are often modest and frequently equivocal. HYPOTHESIS: Physical activity effects on the femur would be better reflected in measurements of geometry than BMD. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional cohort study. METHODS: We used data from 6032 women of mixed ethnicity aged 50-79 yr who had dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans of the total body and hip from the Women's Health Initiative observational study. Subjects were distributed in three ways: self-report categories included 1) tertiles of MET and 2) reported minutes per week walking for exercise. A third, more objective, category was based on tertile of lean body mass fraction (LMF) from DXA scans. Femur outcomes included conventional femoral neck and total hip BMD, bone mineral content and region area, and geometry measurements using the Hip Structure Analysis software. Outcomes were compared between activity groups using models adjusted for common confounders. RESULTS: Adjusted bone measurements showed similar activity effects with all three grouping variables, but these were greater and more significant when evaluated by LMF tertile. Women in the highest LMF tertile had the widest femurs. Differences in section modulus between highest and lowest tertile of LMF were 50%-80% greater than the association with bone mineral content and two to three times that on BMD. CONCLUSIONS: More active women in the Women's Health Initiative observational study had geometrically stronger femurs, although effects are underestimated, not apparent, or sometimes negative when using BMD as an outcome. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Exercise improves the strength of the femur largely by adding bone to the outer cortical surface; this improves resistance to bending, but because of the way DXA measurements are made, this may paradoxically reduce BMD.

Vertebral fracture risk is reduced in women who lose femoral neck BMD with teriparatide treatment.

Response to osteoporosis therapy is often assessed by serial BMD testing. Patients who lose BMD without secondary causes of bone loss may be considered to be "nonresponders" to treatment. We examined vertebral fracture (VF) risk, change in lumbar spine (LS) BMD, and change in amino-terminal extension peptide of procollagen type I (PINP) in postmenopausal women whose femoral neck (FN) BMD decreased, increased, or was unchanged after receiving teriparatide (TPTD) or placebo (PL) in the Fracture Prevention Trial. FN and LS BMD were measured at baseline and 12 mo. VFs were assessed by lateral spine radiographs at baseline and study endpoint. A BMD change from baseline of >4% was considered to be clinically significant. Decreases of >4% FN BMD were less common in women receiving TPTD (10%) versus PL (16%, p < 0.05), yet women on TPTD who lost FN BMD still had significant reductions in VF risk compared with PL (RR = 0.11; 95% CI = 0.03-0.45). VF risk reduction with TPTD compared with PL was similar across categories of FN BMD change from baseline at 12 mo (loss >4%, loss 0-4%, gain 0-4%, or gain >4%; interaction p = 0.40). Irrespective of FN BMD loss or gain, TPTD-treated women had statistically significant increases in LS BMD and PINP compared with PL. In both groups, losses or gains in FN BMD at 12 mo corresponded to losses or gains in BMC rather than changes in bone area. In conclusion, loss of FN BMD at 12 mo in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis treated with TPTD is nevertheless consistent with a good treatment response in terms of VF risk reduction.