ECTS2014 Poster Presentations Osteoporosis: treatment (68 abstracts)
1St. Josephs Healthcare, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; 2Rheumatology Section, Department of Medicine, University of Verona, Verona, Italy; 3Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital of Lille, Lille, France; 4Bridge Medical Center, Crawley, West Sussex, UK; 5Department of Rheumatology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands; 6Departments of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, Gothenburg University, Göteborg, Sweden; 7Biomedical Research Institute, University Hasselt, Diepenbeek, Belgium; 8Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, USA.
Objective: This multi-objective prospective study (MUSIC-OS) is intended to examine treatment patterns, occurrence of gastrointestinal (GI) complications and clinical and health outcomes in post-menopausal osteoporotic (OP) women in Europe and Canada. Surveys were administered to both physicians and patients as part of the MUSIC-OS study to document reasons for undertreatment in OP from both physician and patient perspectives.
Materials and methods: A physician questionnaire was employed to document physician practice patterns regarding the diagnosis and management of OP, and to understand the role of gastrointestinal complications in the management and treatment of OP. Additionally, a survey was administered to untreated patients who were diagnosed with OP, to document their reasons for not receiving a medication for their condition.
Results: Ninety-seven physicians participated in the physician survey and 292 patients participated in the patient survey. Seventy-five percent of patients reported having a pre-existing GI problem. 18.6% of physicians were unwilling to prescribe pharmacological OP treatment for their osteoporotic patients with a pre-existing GI problem and of all patients with pre-existing GI problems, 15% reported GI problems as the main reason their doctor did not prescribe OP treatment. Most patients who had made the decision to not take OP treatment cited fear of side effects as the most common reason they are untreated (58.3%). Approximately 62% of patients reported that they were not treated for OP due to physician concern. Conversely, only 17% of physicians reported they were unwilling to prescribe treatment because of a patients medical condition.
Conclusion: There is a disparity in perception between patients and physicians regarding decision making for treatment of OP. Sixty-two percent of patients believe non-treatment is physician driven, compared to 17% of physicians. Physicians (18.6%) will not prescribe pharmacological OP treatment due to patient GI sensitivity.