Siris, Ethel S.

Abstract Randomized trials have not been performed, and may never be, to determine if osteoporosis treatment prevents hip fracture in men. Addressing that evidence gap, we analyzed data from an observational study of new hip fractures in a large integrated healthcare system to compare the reduction in hip fractures associated with standard-of-care osteoporosis treatment in men versus women. Sampling from 271,389 patients aged ≥ 65 who had a hip-containing CT scan during care between 2005 and 2018, we selected all who subsequently had a first hip fracture (cases) after the CT scan (start of observation) and a sex-matched equal number of randomly selected patients. From those, we analyzed all who tested positive for osteoporosis (DXA-equivalent hip BMD T-score ≤ −2.5, measured from the CT scan using VirtuOst). We defined “treated” as at least six months of any osteoporosis medication by prescription fill data during follow-up; “not-treated” was no prescription fill. Sex-specific odds ratios of hip fracture for treated vs not-treated patients were calculated by logistic regression; adjustments included age, BMD T-score, BMD-treatment interaction, BMD, race/ethnicity, and seven baseline clinical risk factors. At two-year follow-up, 33.9% of the women (750/2,211 patients) and 24.0% of the men (175/728 patients) were treated primarily with alendronate; 51.3% and 66.3%, respectively, were not-treated; and 721 and 269, respectively, had a first hip fracture since the CT scan. Odds ratio of hip fracture for treated vs not-treated was 0.26 (95% confidence interval: 0.21–0.33) for women and 0.21 (0.13–0.34) for men; the ratio of these odds ratios (men:women) was 0.81 (0.47–1.37), indicating no significant sex effect. Various sensitivity and stratified analyses confirmed these trends, including results at five-year follow-up. Given these results and considering the relevant literature, we conclude that osteoporosis treatment prevents hip fracture similarly in both sexes.

Abstract To assess the cost-effectiveness of interventions to prevent osteoporosis, it is necessary to estimate total health care expenditures for the treatment of osteoporotic fractures. Resources utilized for the treatment of many diseases can be estimated from secondary databases using relevant diagnosis codes, but such codes do not indicate which fractures are osteoporotic in nature. Therefore, a panel of experts was convened to make judgments about the probabilities that fractures of different types might be related to osteoporosis according to patient age, gender, and race. A three-round Delphi process was applied to estimate the proportion of fractures related to osteoporosis (i.e., the osteoporosis attribution probabilities) in 72 categories comprised of four specific fracture types (hip, spine, forearm, all other sites combined) stratified by three age groups (45–64 years, 65–84 years, 85 years and older), three racial groups (white, black, all others), and both genders (female, male). It was estimated that at least 90% of all hip and spine fractures among elderly white women should be attributed to osteoporosis. Much smaller proportions of the other fractures were attributed to osteoporosis. Regardless of fracture type, attribution probabilities were less for men than women and generally less for non-whites than whites. These probabilities will be used to estimate the total direct medical costs associated with osteoporosis-related fractures in the United States.