Health x Wellness
Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis launches educational series
The 17-module educational series is a world-first, interactive, educational osteoporosis resource for Healthcare Professionals. The series seeks to encourage widescale implementation of the minimum clinical standards of care for osteoporosis advocated in The APCO Framework.
More than 50 per cent of the world’s hip fractures are expected to occur in the Asia Pacific by the year 2050(1). The survival of those who sustain an osteoporotic fragility fracture is significantly compromised for up to six years, with patients facing twice the risk of death within the first year(2).
Despite extensive availability of safe and effective osteoporosis management strategies(3), more than 80 percent of fragility fracture patients are neither assessed, nor treated(4,5).
APCO champions clinical practice guidelines to improve osteoporosis care
The Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis (APCO) has previously launched ‘The APCO Framework’ in January, 2021. This framework comprises 16 minimum clinical standards that serve as a benchmark for the provision of best practice osteoporosis care in the Asia Pacific(6).
In October 2021, APCO has introduced the APCO Health Care Professional (HCP) Peer to Peer Educational Modules. This educational series will offer HCPs a ‘…comprehensive, evidence-based resource encouraging widescale implementation of the minimum clinical standards of care for osteoporosis advocated in The APCO Framework.’
Significant inconsistencies in clinical practice guidelines for osteoporosis and fragility fractures
APCO Chairperson, and Director of the Osteoporosis and Bone Metabolism Unit, Singapore General Hospital, Dr Manju Chandran has shared(7) that there are significant inconsistencies in clinical practice guidelines in the Asia Pacific for the management and prevention of osteoporosis and fragility fractures. These guidelines vary extensively in scope and recommendations. Additionally, there is a lack of information available on adherence to national guidelines in daily clinical practice.
It is to address this care gap, that APCO has developed an interactive, 17-module educational series today, to arm osteoporosis champions in the Asia Pacific, with information, supporting data, topical literature summaries, and best practice examples that support and emphasise each of The APCO Framework’s 16 minimum clinical standards and emerging themes in osteoporosis care. Increasing awareness and education among healthcare professionals in the Asia Pacific is imperative to bringing change to the real-world clinical practice of osteoporosis care and fracture prevention.
APCO Chairperson, and Director of the Osteoporosis and Bone Metabolism Unit, Singapore General Hospital, Dr Manju Chandran
Access and usage of the APCO HCP Peer to Peer Educational Modules
Osteoporosis experts can use the new APCO HCP Education Modules either in full, or in part, to inspire and further inform their peers and professional communities on those at high-risk for fracture who require identification and assessment, based on their medical and fracture history, risk factors, co-occurring diseases, country-specific osteoporosis screening tool results, and falls risk. Supporting data on the administration, duration, monitoring of, and adherence to, various treatment interventions and their associated side-effects, as well as the critical need for long-term management plans, also feature in the APCO modules.
APCO Committee member, Consultant in Endocrinology and Diabetes at Tun Wah Hospital, and Chairperson of the Guideline for the Management of Postmenopausal Osteoporosis in Hong Kong, Dr Ip Tai-Pang, Hong Kong SAR
HCPs can request for access to The APCO Education Modules through this link and to find out more information at this website.
References:
- 1: Cheung, C.-L., et al., An updated hip fracture projection in Asia: The Asian Federation of Osteoporosis Societies study. Osteoporosis and sarcopenia, 2018. 4(1): p. 16-21.
- 2: Brown, J.P., et al., Mortality in older adults following a fragility fracture: real-world retrospective matched-cohort study in Ontario. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 2021. 22(1): p. 105.
- 3: Kanis, J.A., et al., A meta-analysis of previous fracture and subsequent fracture risk. Bone, 2004. 35(2): p. 375-82.
- 4: Royal Australian College of General Practitioners & Osteoporosis Australia, Osteoporosis prevention, diagnosis and management in postmenopausal women and men over 50 years of age. 2017.
- 5: International Osteoporosis Foundation, World Osteoporosis Day Toolkit. 2021.
- 6: Chandran, M., et al., Development of the Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis (APCO) Framework: clinical standards of care for the screening, diagnosis, and management of osteoporosis in the Asia-Pacific region. Osteoporosis International, 2021. 32(7): p. 1249-1275.
- 7: Chandran, M., et al., Development of the Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis (APCO) Framework: clinical standards of care for the screening, diagnosis, and management of osteoporosis in the Asia-Pacific region. Osteoporosis International, 2021. 32(7): p. 1249-1275.
Images taken from APCO media materials shared with this publication.
