The Role of Primary Care in Osteoporosis Management.
With a growing list of priorities and limited time in each visit, why should primary care physicians (PCPs) be concerned with MSK health??
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The scale of the problem.?
?? Approximately 1.7 billion people have musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions worldwide[1].?
? In the US, MSK diseases are the leading cause of years of disability[2].?
?? Ten million American adults have osteoporosis, the most prevalent metabolic bone disease[3].?
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The status quo.?
There are several safe and cost-effective interventions for osteoporosis, including lifestyle and pharmaceuticals. The challenge lies in identifying the disease early in its pathway and beginning treatment promptly.?
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Unfortunately, it is common for a diagnosis to only be made after advanced disease has set in and a fracture has already occurred. This leads to higher healthcare costs, worse outcomes, and a higher risk of subsequent fractures.?
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The role of primary care in bone health.??
PCPs are crucial in managing bone health and osteoporosis[4]. Effective primary care facilitates prevention, earlier diagnosis, and more holistic treatment opportunities, for example, by recommending strategies to reduce bone loss in peri-menopausal and post-menopausal women and adhering to osteoporosis screening guidelines.?
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However, it's no secret that primary care is under immense pressure, with burn-out rates reportedly as high as 79% [5]. Adding yet more things for PCPs to do and think about will only get us so far. Instead, could the use of advanced technology hold the key to reducing the burden on primary care while simultaneously achieving improvements in the early identification of osteoporosis??
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Case-finding, a part of the solution??
Case-finding is the strategy of detecting disease (in this case, osteoporosis) in people who present to healthcare providers for various, potentially unrelated complaints. Our technology, called OsteoSight, is designed to do just that. It allows providers to opportunistically identify people with low bone mineral density (a key indicator of osteoporosis) by extracting additional information from routine X-rays with the help of AI and advanced imaging science.?
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Case-finding works. It has been shown to reduce the economic and clinical burden of multiple chronic conditions, including osteoporosis. One study found that a 20% increase in case-finding would prevent 2.6 million fractures over 22 years[3].?
Want to discuss how your practice could lead in MSK care???
Get in touch with Naitive today.?
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#Osteoporosis #BoneHealth #PrimaryCare?
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References:?
2.?????Nguyen, A. T., Aris, I. M., Snyder, B. D., Harris, M. B., Kang, J. D., Murray, M., Rodriguez, E. K., & Nazarian, A. (2024). Musculoskeletal health: an ecological study assessing disease burden and research funding.?Lancet regional health. Americas,?29, 100661.?
3.?????Lewiecki, E. M., Ortendahl, J. D., Vanderpuye-Orgle, J., Grauer, A., Arellano, J., Lemay, J., Harmon, A. L., Broder, M. S., & Singer, A. J. (2019). Healthcare Policy Changes in Osteoporosis Can Improve Outcomes and Reduce Costs in the United States.?JBMR plus,?3(9), e10192.?
4.?????Jarrell, Lynda DNP, APRN, FNP-BC. Osteoporosis management in primary care. The Nurse Practitioner 48(9):p 11-20, September 2023.?
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