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VA-based survey of osteoporosis management in spinal cord injury.

ABSTRACT: Although osteoporosis is common following spinal cord injury (SCI), no guidelines exist for its treatment, diagnosis, or prevention. The authors hypothesized that wide variations in diagnosis and treatment practices result from the absence of guidelines. This study sought to characterize the diagnosis and management practices within the VA health care system for osteoporosis following SCI.Online survey regarding osteoporosis management in SCI composed of 27 questions designed to gather information on responder demographics, osteoporosis diagnostics, and treatment options.VA health care system.VHA National SCI Staff Physicians and VHA National SCI Nurses (total n = 450) were sent an email with an invitation to participate.Not applicable.Practice patterns were assessed, including factors associated with ordering a clinical workup and prescribing osteoporosis treatment.The response rate was 28%. Ninety-two prescribing practitioners (physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants) were included in the analysis. Of these respondents, 50 (54%) prescribe medications for SCI-induced bone loss; 39 (42%) prescribe bisphosphonates and 46 (50%) prescribe vitamin D. There were 54 (59%) respondents who routinely order diagnostic tests, including dual energy x-ray absorptiometry scans in 50 (54%). Variations in practice were not explained by age, gender, or years practicing SCI medicine. Many respondents (23%) reported barriers to osteoporosis testing including lack of scanning protocols, cost, wheelchair inaccessibility of scanning facilities, and lack of effective treatment guidelines once osteoporosis is diagnosed.Despite an absence of screening and treatment guidelines, more than half of all respondents are actively diagnosing and treating osteoporosis with bisphosphonates within the VA health care setting. These data suggest that evidence-based practice guidelines are necessary to reduce practice variations and improve clinical care for this population.

SUBMITTER: Morse LR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2791704 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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VA-based survey of osteoporosis management in spinal cord injury.

Morse Leslie R LR Giangregorio Lora L Battaglino Ricardo A RA Holland Robert R Craven B Catharine BC Stolzmann Kelly L KL Lazzari Antonio A AA Sabharwal Sunil S Garshick Eric E

PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitation 20090206 3

<h4>Objective</h4>Although osteoporosis is common following spinal cord injury (SCI), no guidelines exist for its treatment, diagnosis, or prevention. The authors hypothesized that wide variations in diagnosis and treatment practices result from the absence of guidelines. This study sought to characterize the diagnosis and management practices within the VA health care system for osteoporosis following SCI.<h4>Design</h4>Online survey regarding osteoporosis management in SCI composed of 27 quest ...[more]

PMID: 19627901

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Project description:BackgroundIschemic spinal cord injury (SCI) belongs to the heterogeneous group of non-traumatic SCI, while the course of sensorimotor and functional recovery is comparable to traumatic SCI. Recently, we derived from data of patients with traumatic SCI a valid model to predict an independent and reliable bowel management one year after SCI.AimTo evaluate the performance of this model to predict an independent and reliable bowel management one year following ischemic SCI.DesignPrognostic study - observational study.SettingEuropean Multicenter Study about Spinal Cord Injury (EMSCI) ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01571531.PopulationOne hundred and forty-two patients with ischemic SCI of various level and severity of injury.MethodsThe prediction model relied on a single predictor collected within 40 days from injury, the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury total motor score. Bowel outcome one year after SCI derived from the dichotomization of the Spinal Cord Independence Measure (SCIM) item 7 scores. We defined a positive outcome as independent bowel management with regular movements and appropriate timing with no or rare accidents (score of 10 in SCIM version II and score of 8 or 10 in version III).ResultsThe model showed a fair discrimination with an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.780 (95% confidence interval=0.702-0.860). In addition, the model displayed an acceptable accuracy and calibration.ConclusionsThe study extends the validity of our rule to patients with ischemic SCI, thus providing the first model to predict an independent and reliable bowel management in this population.Clinical rehabilitation impactThe model may be employed in clinical practice to counsel patients, to define the rehabilitation aims and to estimate the need of assistance after discharge, as well as in the research field for the optimization of patients' allocation in the design of future clinical trials.

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VA-based survey of osteoporosis management in spinal cord injury.

Publications

VA-based survey of osteoporosis management in spinal cord injury.

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