New research indicates that elderly men are significantly undertreated for osteoporosis compared with elderly women, and blacks have the lowest treatment rates among racial/ethnic groups. The findings are published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research.
New research indicates that elderly men are significantly undertreated for osteoporosis compared with elderly women, and blacks have the lowest treatment rates among racial/ethnic groups. The findings are published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research.
In the study of 8,465 male and 90,956 female Medicare beneficiaries with osteoporosis, the prevalence of osteoporosis medication use was substantially less in men than in women (25.2 percent versus 44.3 percent in 2006).
Blacks had by far the lowest treatment rates (30 percent for women and 15.5 percent for men). Whites were in the middle (44.4 percent for women and 24.5 percent for men), and Asians had the highest rates (64.4 percent for women and 37.9 percent for men). Treatment rates among Hispanic women (46.5 percent) exceeded that of whites, but the rate for Hispanic men (19.3 percent) was significantly below that for white men.
Bone mineral density testing significantly increased the probability of osteoporosis treatment use for both sexes, but more so for men.
“We found that there was a significant gender disparity in osteoporosis treatment in the elderly in the United States,” said co-author Dr. Feng-Hua Ellen Loh, of Touro College, in New York. “To reduce this disparity and improve the overall osteoporosis management in the elderly in this country, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services should include men, in addition to women, in the Medicare Part C Star Rating measure for osteoporosis management, and the US Preventive Services Task Force should include elderly men, in addition to women aged 65 years and older, in the recommendation for screening for osteoporosis by using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.”
Additional Information
Link to Study: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jphs.12291
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Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research aims to become a focal point for the publication of all aspects of research within the field of health services research that relate to pharmaceuticals.
Health services research (HSR) can be defined as the multidisciplinary field of scientific investigation that studies how social factors, financing systems, organizational structures and processes, health technologies, and personal behaviours affect access to health care, the quality and cost of health care, and quantity and quality of life. Studies in health services research examine outcomes at the individual, family, organizational, institutional, community, and population level. HSR studies examine how people get access to health care, how much care costs, and what happens to patients as a result of this care. The primary goals of HSR are to identify the most effective ways to organize, manage, finance, and deliver high quality care, reduce medical errors and improve patient safety.
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