In honour of World Osteoporosis Day (Friday, October 20) today, we wanted to announce the launch of an Asia Pacific-wide public health campaign designed to prevent secondary bone fractures.
Fight the Fracture – an Asian Federation of Osteoporosis Societies (AFOS), International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) and Amgen collaboration – aims to empower those who have sustained a fragility fracture, and their carers to proactively seek professional help to curb subsequent fractures, through the provision of educational information, tools and resources at www.fightthefracture.asia
Yesterday we reported on Osteoporosis Australia’s bipartisan Ministerial Roundtable in Canberra that reviewed the impact of osteoporosis in Australia and worked to develop strategies for fracture prevention. Federal Ministers from both sides of politics expressed their support for the cause and willingness to drive effective action to help reduce the number of Australians sustaining secondary fractures, with discussion of how to progress the topic to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). So it’s great to see the issue being taken seriously on a regional front too.
The stats are quite confronting. Estimates suggest around 25 per cent of patients who sustain a hip fracture, die within a year, and less than half of those who survive regain their previous level of function. Once a patient sustains a fragility fracture thanks to osteoporosis, their risk of further fracture increases up to 10-fold!
The Fight the Fracture campaign kicked-off with a 400 APAC patient-strong survey examining the impact of late diagnosis of the disease.
Of the 400 patients surveyed, almost three-in-four (74 per cent) who had sustained a fragility fracture said they were worried, or very worried about breaking another bone. More concerningly, nearly one-in-three (29 per cent) of the respondents failed to discuss fracture prevention and osteoporosis, the underlying cause, with their doctor. In addition, of those survey respondents who received a late diagnosis of osteoporosis, 4-in-5 (80 per cent) said they wish they had received an earlier diagnosis, from which they believe they would have drawn benefit.
“Fragility fractures have crippling consequences for patients and their families. A second or third fracture is even more devastating for a patient, potentially costing his or her healthy mobility, independence or even life,” said Professor Cyrus Cooper, IOF President, Switzerland.
“These findings are welcome, timely evidence of the urgent need for greater awareness and understanding among patients, their families and caregivers. We encourage patients who have suffered a fracture, to start conversations with their doctors immediately about ways to prevent another fracture.”
The SOS Fracture Alliance, Australia’s only national alliance focusing on the prevention of osteoporotic fractures, that unites 30+ medical, allied health, patient and consumer organisations in order to ‘make the first break, the last’, was formed in October last year. The organisation has since been working hard to close the gap in osteoporosis care in Australia, by ensuring patients who sustain a fracture are investigated and/or treated to prevent further fractures.
The Fight the Fracture APAC campaign and Osteoporosis Australia’s bipartisan Federal Ministerial roundtable are amplifying the issue on the regional and local public health agenda.
But what do we actually need to do to combat the burden of osteoporosis Australia-wide?
To find out, we spoke to Professor Mark Cooper, Deputy Chair, Osteoporosis Australia Medical Committee, Sydney who participated in yesterday’s roundtable. Prof Cooper highlighted the importance of securing State and Federal Government support for establishing proven models of care known as Fracture Liaison Services (FLS), to reduce patient risk of secondary fractures.
“Yesterday’s bipartisan Federal Ministerial Roundtable on fracture prevention at Parliament House was a tremendous success.
“Both the Federal Minister for Aged Care and the Shadow Minister for Ageing, together with other representatives from both parties, were seen to be very supportive of the cause, and were very keen to see effective action that would reduce the number of fractures in both men and women. There was even a mention of how to progress this to the level of COAG,” explained Professor Cooper.
“New Zealand is about to go from zero to 100 per cent implementation of FLSs, and that’s because everyone agreed it was a good idea, and they worked out how to implement this across the country. In Australia, we are trying to do the same, but in a slightly more complicated health service.
“If primary care drives implementation of FLS, then it will need to be funded and mandated by the Federal Government. If the hospitals were to drive FLS, that would need to be mandated by the State Government. In reality, to catch everybody, we need both organisations to mandate FLS,” Prof Cooper said.
If you want to assess the health of your bones, especially if you’re aged over 50, take Osteoporosis Australia’s Know your Bones test, arm yourself with plenty of their helpful resources and practical advice, and head to your doctor for further advice.