Singapore, Oct 20, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - More than 50 per cent of the world's hip fractures are expected to occur in
the Asia Pacific by the year 2050.
In a strong effort to stem the tide, and to promote quality care in osteoporosis, the Asia Pacific Consortium on
Osteoporosis (APCO) has launched a world-first, interactive, educational osteoporosis resource – the APCO Health Care
Professional (HCP) Peer to Peer Educational Modules – today, to mark World Osteoporosis Day (Wednesday, October 20).
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. Furthermore, a prior fracture at any site doubles a
person's risk of refracture. Yet despite these alarming statistics, more than 80 per cent of fragility fracture patients
are neither assessed, nor treated, placing a substantial, but importantly, preventable burden on already strained
healthcare systems. This is despite the extensive availability of safe and effective osteoporosis management strategies.
Minimum clinical standards for the assessment and management of osteoporosis are therefore urgently required in the Asia
Pacific, to inform clinical practice guidelines, and improve osteoporosis care. It was with this aim in mind that APCO
launched ‘The APCO Framework' in January, 2021. ‘The Framework' comprises 16 minimum clinical standards that serve as a
benchmark for the provision of best practice osteoporosis care in the Asia Pacific.
The APCO HCP Peer to Peer Education Modules will offer physicians a comprehensive, evidence-based resource encouraging
widescale implementation of the minimum clinical standards of care for osteoporosis advocated in The APCO Framework.
This will enable the delivery of best practice osteoporosis care throughout the Asia Pacific – the world's fastest
ageing region.
According to APCO Chairperson, and Director of the Osteoporosis and Bone Metabolism Unit, Singapore General Hospital, Dr
Manju Chandran, Singapore, 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. There is also 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," said Dr Chandran.
"The Asia Pacific is home to 4.5 billion people, rapidly ageing populations, and vastly different healthcare systems.
"An overwhelming 319 million people aged 50 years and over from the Asia Pacific are projected to be at high risk of
osteoporotic fracture over the next two decades, while more than half of the world's hip fractures are expected to occur
in the region by 2050," Dr Chandran said.
"Singapore, where I live, for instance, has one of the highest hip fracture rates in the world, with a four-to-five-fold
increase in incidence noted over a recent 30-year period.
"The incidence of osteoporotic fractures in Singapore is projected to rise from more than 15,000 in 2017, to 24,100 by
2035, an increase of 57.9 per cent. The total economic burden (including both direct and indirect costs) associated with
these fractures is projected to grow from SGD 183.5 million (USD 214 million) in 2017, to SGD 289.6 million (USD 136
million) by 2035."
After one year, two in five people who sustain a hip fracture will be unable to walk independently, while two-thirds
will encounter difficulty performing at least one essential daily task.
"Economically, the burden of current treatment of a single hip fracture in the Asia Pacific is extremely high, equating
to approximately 19 per cent of our region's per-head gross domestic product (GDP)," said 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.
In Hong Kong SAR alone, the direct medical costs of hip fractures was an estimated USD 85 million in 2018, the costs for
which are projected to increase to USD 243 million by 2050.
"Given the anticipated exponential growth in fragility fractures due to the region's rapidly ageing population, mass
urbanisation and our increasingly sedentary lifestyles, we must act now," Dr Ip said.
"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," said Dr Ip.
Osteoporosis is vastly under-diagnosed and under-treated. Disturbingly, millions of people worldwide at high risk of
fracture remain unaware of this underlying, silent disease. Championed by the International Osteoporosis Foundation
(IOF), World Osteoporosis Day is dedicated to raising global awareness of the importance of prevention, diagnosis and
treatment of osteoporosis and musculoskeletal diseases.
"This World Osteoporosis Day, we encourage healthcare providers, policy makers, patients, members of the public, and the
media on a global, regional and national stage, to recognise the monumental human and socio-economic burden of
osteoporosis, and the severe impact of fractures on a patient's independence and quality of life," IOF Chief Executive
Officer, and APCO Executive Committee member, Dr Philippe Halbout, Switzerland said.
"One of the emerging osteoporosis themes outlined in the APCO HCP Education Modules, is the importance of Asia
Pacific-wide systemic integration of case identification and management at all levels of health systems, including acute
care services, when patients present with fractures through Post Fracture Care Coordination Programs, such as Fracture
Liaison Services (FLS).
"These coordinated systems of care aim to identify, treat and monitor patients presenting with a fragility fracture.
Intervention can reduce fractures by up to 50 per cent, deliver substantial financial savings, and ultimately, save
lives," said Dr Halbout.
"Today's launch of the APCO Education Modules demonstrates the organisation's ongoing commitment to achieving greater
consistency in national and regional clinical practice guidelines for the screening, diagnosis, and management of
osteoporosis in the Asia Pacific."
To request access to The APCO Education Modules, head to: apcobonehealth.org/apco-education-modules.
To learn more, visit www.apcobonehealth.org or follow APCO on LinkedIn: asia-pacific-consortium-on-osteoporosis.
About APCO
The Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis (APCO) comprises osteoporosis experts from 19 countries in the Asia Pacific,
charged with developing tangible solutions to the substantive challenges involving osteoporosis management and fracture
prevention in this most populated and fastest growing part of the world. APCO's mission is to engage with relevant
stakeholders, including healthcare providers, policy makers and the public, to help develop and implement country and
region-specific programs for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, and its complication of fragility fractures,
in the Asia Pacific.
About osteoporosis in the Asia Pacific region
- Osteoporosis is estimated to account for nearly nine million fractures each year, noting more than 200 million people
worldwide live with osteoporosis.
- Osteoporotic fractures among Asia-Pacific populations are expected to increase exponentially, due to the region's
rapidly aging population, mounting urbanisation, and subsequent increase in sedentary lifestyles.
- Osteoporosis is greatly under-diagnosed and under-treated in Asia, even among those at highest risk who have already
fractured. In most developing countries of the Asia Pacific, especially in rural areas, DXA technology is not widely
available.
About World Osteoporosis Day
Falling each year on October 20, World Osteoporosis Day raises awareness of bone health and osteoporosis prevention.
This year's campaign, under the banner of ‘Take Action for Bone Health', calls for global action to fight osteoporosis
and related fractures. See: www.worldosteoporosisday.org.