Compliance with a pharmacological secondary fracture prevention policy.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to monitor the compliance of a specific group of patients to the initiation of pharmacological fracture prevention therapies, in particular calcium and Vitamin D3 supplements. We used a cohort of 276 patients admitted to one hospital with an acute hip fracture. Therapy was started in hospital and compliance checked at out patient follow-up. Written and verbal advice was given to support therapy. The mean age was 80.8 years and 82% were female. One hundred and ninety-nine patients were alive at one year from injury. For these patients 22 (11.1%) were on therapy prior to fracturing their hip. Of the remainder, 111/177 (62.7%) stated they were taking therapy to reduce the risk of fractures. These results demonstrate that an aggressive policy of prescribing can result in good levels of compliance with therapy.