Conclusions This review indicates that it is still unclear whether patient education is beneficial and whether it has a significant and clinical ly relevant impact on osteoporosis management results .
Summary This review summarizes evidence regarding the effects of patient education in osteoporosis prevention and treatment .
Method ological improvem ent of future RCTs ( e.g. with regard to r and omization and duration of follow-up ) might yield more conclusive evidence on the effects of patient education in osteoporosis Introduction This review aims to evaluate the effects of patient education on osteoporosis prevention and treatment results .
What is the impact of osteoporosis education and bone mineral density testing for postmenopausal women in a managed care setting?
Objective To assess whether osteoporosis education , with and without bone mineral density ( BMD ) testing , increases the initiation of lifestyle changes and pharmaceutical treatment to prevent osteoporosis . Design A total of 508 women , aged 54–65 , from a large managed care organization who were not on osteoporosis prevention therapy participated in an intervention study . Participants were r and omly assigned to either an education class on osteoporosis ( n = 301 ) or education plus BMD ( n = 207 ) . A control group of 187 women receiving no intervention were also surveyed to serve as comparison . Group differences and differences based on BMD test result were compared 6 months after education regarding self-reported changes in health behaviors using & khgr;2 tests and logistic regression analyses . Results Of the 508 intervention participants , 455 ( 90 % ) responded to the follow-up survey . Initiation of hormone replacement therapy was reported by 9 % , with 5 % reporting starting alendronate . More than half reported changes in diet , exercise , or calcium intake . Forty-three percent increased their vitamin D intake . There were no significant group differences in behavior except with regard to pharmaceutical therapy ; subjects with education plus BMD were three times more likely than those receiving education only to report starting hormone replacement therapy ( p = 0.004 ) . Low BMD scores were associated with increasing vitamin D intake ( p = 0.03 ) and starting medication ( p = 0.001 ) . Women in the intervention groups were significantly more likely to report modifying their diet ( p < 0.001 ) , calcium ( p < 0.01 ) , and vitamin D intake ( p < 0.0001 ) than women in the control group , not exposed to education . Conclusion Education regarding osteoporosis prevention seems to encourage women to make lifestyle changes . The inclusion of BMD testing enhances the likelihood that women will consider pharmaceutical therapy
Conclusions This review indicates that it is still unclear whether patient education is beneficial and whether it has a significant and clinical ly relevant impact on osteoporosis management results .
Summary This review summarizes evidence regarding the effects of patient education in osteoporosis prevention and treatment .
Method ological improvem ent of future RCTs ( e.g. with regard to r and omization and duration of follow-up ) might yield more conclusive evidence on the effects of patient education in osteoporosis Introduction This review aims to evaluate the effects of patient education on osteoporosis prevention and treatment results .