There is an urgent need to maintain mobility in the world’s older population. So states a new international report, released this weekend.
The second edition of the International Osteoporosis Foundation Compendium of Osteoporosis draws attention to the need for improved multidisciplinary rehabilitation. This includes improvements in acute care for fracture patients, rapid secondary fracture prevention, and ongoing care for seniors who are functionally impaired after fracture, the authors wrote.
“The dependency ratios clearly show that maintaining mobility and independence in older populations is increasingly a matter of necessity,” said IOF President Cyrus Cooper, M.D., in a statement. “Loss of function and independence among survivors of hip fractures is profound, with 40 percent unable to walk independently and 60 percent requiring assistance a year later,” he said. “Because of these losses, up to 33 percent are totally dependent or in a nursing home in the year following a hip fracture.”
The IOF Capture the Fracture website provides information about setting up fracture liaison services, a proven way to effectively identify and manage patients at high risk of secondary fractures, the group reports.
