Bone Abstracts

Introduction: Persistence is defined as the period between the start and the interruption of a pharmacological treatment. In osteoporotic patients, persistence to therapy is poor, resulting in reduced benefits and increased risk of fracture.The aim of this study is to analyze persistence with drug therapy in osteoporotic patients in the Campania region.

Material and methods: We conducted a retrospective population-based cohort study to examine prescription data of 30 348 subjects, males and females, aged ≥ 40 years, in Campania Region (Southern Italy). They received at least one prescription for osteoporosis medication in the period between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009. Subjects had not received osteoporosis medication in the year prior to the start of the study. They were followed for 1 year from the first prescription of an antiosteoporotic drug and persistence was assessed with the method of medication gaps. In addition, a survival analysis was performed by the Kaplan–Meier method and univariate sensitivity analysis.

Results: The mean age of our samples was 69.1 years. 54.8% of subjects were persistent at 3 months, 32.8% at 6 months, 21.9% at 9 months and 15.9% at 12 months. The results of analysis of persistence for each drug are shown in Table 1.

Conclusion(s): Our study showed that in Southern Italy <30% of patients treated with antiosteoporotic drugs is persistent with therapy at one year and <40% at six months. Therefore most people don’t make any therapeutic benefit in order to reduce risk fracture.