Teaching about practice guidelines: osteoporosis
Sommer, J.; Uebelhart, B.
Revue Medicale Suisse 7(295): 1070 1072-14 1076-7
2011
ISSN/ISBN: 1660-9379 PMID: 21688673 Document Number: 653105
Family physicians need to know how to teach students practical guidelines for frequent diseases such as osteoporosis. After the age of 50 years, the risk for osteoporotic fractures is 50% for women and 20% for men. It is therefore useful to prevent and screen for osteoporosis. Family physicians need to know how to recognize the clinical and biological risk factors for osteoporosis; they must know when to request a bone densitometry, the "gold standard" for diagnosis. They must also be able to integrate these factors within the clinical context to evaluate the absolute risk of osteoporosis-related fracture that determines the need for specific treatment. Numerous treatments with proven efficacy to reduce global fractures are available but it is important to know their different indications, risk/benefits and potential harmful side-effects.