Reaching out to osteoporosis patients
While much of medical research focuses on developing and testing new treatments, an equally important area of research focuses on making sure that effective treatments are actually used. A perfect is example is osteoporosis drugs to prevent fractures. These drugs have been proven highly effective, yet few women with fractures take them. To address the issue, Drs. Ann Cranney, Jeremy Grimshaw and Ian Graham designed a pamphlet and reminder letter targeted at both patients and family physicians and tested it in 270 women who had a recent wrist fracture. The patients who received pamphlets were three times more likely to receive recommended treatments. This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and published in the journal Osteoporosis International.