Factors Associated with Treatment Initiation after Osteoporosis Screening

Abstract

The prevalence of osteoporosis and factors associated with treatment initiation after detection of osteoporosis were determined for previously unscreened, postmenopausal women. Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry screening was conducted in 1997-2000 as part of an ancillary study of the Buffalo, New York, center of the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study. A total of 945 women were previously unaware of their bone density, although, for 344 (36.4%), osteoporosis was newly detected through screening (T-score </= -2.5). Of those women, 250 (72.7%) discussed the results with a health care provider, and 140 (56.0%) initiated treatment after doing so. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, factors associated with treatment initiation were T-score (odds ratio (OR) = 0.39 per unit increase, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.23, 0.67), routine medical care more often than yearly (OR = 2.08, 95% CI: 1.12, 3.86), college education (OR = 2.58, 95% CI: 1.25, 5.31), family income of >/=$50,000 (OR = 2.06, 95% CI: 1.03, 4.14), and discussing screening results with a gynecologist (OR = 3.20, 95% CI: 1.33, 7.67). These findings suggest that many postmenopausal women are unaware of their bone density and could benefit from screening. In this study, approximately half of the women with osteoporosis initiated treatment after screening. Disease severity, medical care frequency, education, income, and physician type predicted treatment initiation.

Gender Differences in Healthcare-Seeking Behavior for Urinary Incontinence and the Impact of Socioeconomic Status

“…2). This finding parallels previous reports that older women of lower socioeconomic position tend to under-use regular mammograms, 14 osteoporosis treatment, 32 and Papanicolau test screening. 12 Our result suggests possible socioeconomic bias 33 in the provision of incontinence care for older adults, especially for older women, on the part of primary care practitioners.…”

The relationship of absolute poverty and bone mineral density in postmenopausal Iranian women

“…6 Income has been shown to affect treatment initiation after the detection of osteoporosis for previously unscreened, postmenopausal women. 36 These issues highlight the fact that bone health among poor women is multidimensional in its symptoms, multivariate in its causes, dynamic in its trajectory, and quite complex in its relation to poverty. Research that begins to answer such complex associations will be very important in helping us to understand how policy can help both to alleviate poverty and to ameliorate the negative consequences of poverty for bone health.…”

Prevalence of and Factors Associated with Osteoporosis among Korean Cancer Survivors: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Fourth and Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys

“…In general, annual household income is strongly related to the use of healthcare services. A high income is positively associated with higher BMD testing and prescription treatment after bone density screening (Meadows et al, 2012;Brennan et al, 2004). There was few study to investigate the effect of income on osteoporosis among cancer survivors.…”