How well are community-living women treated for osteoporosis after hip fracture?

OBJECTIVES: To examine whether women with recent hip fracture are receiving adequate treatment for osteoporosis. To examine patient and physician char acteristics associated with adequate treatment for osteoporosis. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study with prospective and retrospective data colle ction. SETTING: Hartford County, Connecticut. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty community-living women age 65 and older identified from hospital databases with an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, code for nontraumatic hip fracture. MEASUREMENTS: Treatment for osteoporosis, healthcare utilization, primary c are physician's specialty, Katz activities of daily living scale, Lawton in strumental activities of daily living scale, Short Portable Mental Status Q uestionnaire, Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 12, and Physical Activity S cale for the Elderly. RESULTS: Only 13% of participants were receiving adequate treatment for ost eoporosis as defined by the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) guidelin es for osteoporosis, 47% reported partial treatment that did not meet NOF g uidelines, and 40% were receiving no treatment for osteoporosis. No patient or physician characteristics were associated with the adequacy of treatmen t for osteoporosis in this small sample. CONCLUSIONS: Few of the women in our study were receiving adequate treatmen t for osteoporosis after hip fracture. There exists an opportunity to educa te postmenopausal women and physicians about the importance of treatment fo r osteoporosis to increase the number of women offered and receiving osteop orosis treatment, especially older postmenopausal women with established, s evere osteoporosis as evidenced by recent hip fracture.