Newsroom

Research shows improvement in care for older people with high risk of fractures, but more work still needs to be done


September 29, 2011

New research led by Dr. Anna Byszewski represents an important step in efforts to prevent fractures in high-risk older people. Dr. Byszewski and her colleagues reviewed charts from more than 400 TOH hip fracture patients, and compared the data to a similar study done at TOH 10 years ago. They found that treatment with proven bone-strengthening medications has greatly increased (especially for patients discharged from the geriatric in-patient unit), but overall, approximately 60% of patients are still leaving the hospital without appropriate prescriptions. The study outlines a number of gaps and barriers in care, as well as potential solutions for overcoming these. See Journal of Osteoporosis for details.

This research was supported by the Ottawa Methods Centre and Merck Frosst Canada (unrestricted summer studentship). All research at OHRI is also supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.