Cost-Effectiveness Of Using Clinical Risk Factors With And Without DXA For Osteoporosis Screening In Postmenopausal Women

Main Category: Bones / Orthopedics
Article Date: 17 Aug 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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Predicting a woman's risk of osteoporotic fractures should be based on both clinical risk factors and measurement of bone density.

Because measurement of bone density is quite expensive, there has been increasing interest to estimate fracture risk by clinical risk factors. Women at increased risk may be selected by clinical risk factors with or without measurement of bone density.

The study "Cost-effectiveness of using clinical risk factors with and without DXA for osteoporosis screening in postmenopausal women", recently published in Value in Health, examines the usefulness of clinical risk factors. The study was co-authored by Dr. Afschin Gandjour. Selecting and treating women at increased risk above the age of 70, a strategy including measurement of bone density discriminates much more accurate between high-risk and low-risk women and is therefore more effective but less expensive compared to a strategy based on clinical risk factors alone.

Annual costs for the German statutory health insurance would total €560 million for a strategy based on risk factors alone and €175 million for a strategy including measurement of bone density.

Says Dirk Müller, "Until the interrelationships between risk factors have been evaluated more extensively, their usage should always be combined with measurement of bone density. Any approach based on risk factors alone will lead to unnecessary treatments for a large number of low-risk women which would also result in an uncontrolled increase in health expenditures".

Value in Health (ISSN 1098-3015) publishes papers, concepts, and ideas that advance the field of pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research and help health care leaders to make decisions that are solidly evidence-based. The journal is published bi-monthly and has a regular readership of over 4,000 clinicians, decision-makers, and researchers worldwide.

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ISPOR

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