PAC Looks At Risks Associated With Osteoporosis Medications, Australia

Main Category: Bones / Orthopedics
Article Date: 16 Sep 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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Osteoporosis is such a major health problem that it is estimated someone is admitted to an Australian hospital with an osteoporotic fracture every five to six minutes.

And by 2021 it is suggested the frequency of hospital admissions will have increased to one admission every three to four minutes as the population ages and osteoporosis becomes more prevalence.

The importance of pharmacists understanding and better managing osteoporosis will be the subject of a key presentation in the Advanced Clinical Practice stream at this year's Pharmacy Australia Congress in Sydney being held at the Sydney Hilton from 15-18 October under the overarching theme of Securing Your Practice Advantage.

Osteoporosis treatments - what are the risks? will be presented by Professor Jeff Hughes, Head, School of Pharmacy, Curtin University of Technology, who will examine the number of pharmacological and non-pharmacological measures which may be employed to prevent and manage osteoporosis, in particular to reduce the risk of bone fracture.

"These inventions have varying clinical efficacies and associated toxicities," Professor Hughes said. "The decision to commence a person on drug treatment for their osteoporosis should always be based on the estimated benefit of treatment (that is, the potential to prevent bone fracture) balanced against the potential risks (that is, adverse effects)."

Professor Hughes says the past decade has seen the emergence of evidence that can better inform physicians in the choice of osteoporosis management. "In this presentation the array of adverse effects which need to be considered in selecting the appropriate drug therapy for an individual patient will be discussed," he says. "These will include gastrointestinal disorders, cancer, hypercalcaemia, cardiac arrhythmias , thromboembolic disorders , musculoskeletal disorders, osteonecrosis of the jaw, and bone fractures."

As well as being Head of the School of Pharmacy at Curtin University of Technology., Professor Hughes is recognised as a leader in clinical pharmacy education and practice in Australia.

In 2004 his efforts in the areas of clinical pharmacy education and pharmacy research were acknowledged when he was named the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia's Pharmacist of the Year.

Source
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia

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