"Are osteoporosis screening and treatment vital?"

Prof. Dr. med. Kurt Lippuner, Director and Chief Physician at the University Clinic for Osteoporosis at the Inselspital Bern answers this question in an interview with

OsteoSwiss

with, “In many cases, yes.” He goes on to explain that mortality is far higher in osteoporosis than in COVID-19, so workup and ongoing treatment are essential despite the current situation. How can the treatment be maintained at the moment?

Prof. Dr. med. Kurt Lippuner further explains that if a femoral neck breaks due to a missed diagnosis or therapy, the mortality within the first year is on average 20%. The older the patients, the higher the mortality.

According to Prof. Lippuner, it would therefore be a serious omission from a medical point of view to omit treatment with antiresorptives, i.e., to omit a due Prolia^®-Do not administer zoledronate injection or zoledronate infusion. He further emphasizes that it would be irresponsible to postpone osteoporosis diagnosis and initiation of therapy indefinitely, both in patients who have recently experienced a fracture and in patients at imminent risk of fracture. As with other serious chronic diseases, he says, ongoing treatment is essential despite the current situation. See: OsteoSwiss

However, many physicians report that maintaining osteoporosis treatment can be very challenging at the moment.

Self-Injection & HomeCare

In the event that continuation of therapy is not possible in practice, Amgen has worked with experts to develop specific solutions for ^Prolia® treatment. Since the administration of ^Prolia® may also be performed by patients with appropriate instruction, for example, the

instruction video

for the self-administration of ^Prolia® is provided^.1

The video may begiven to patients or their relativesforeducational purposes ^.1Further documentation on patient education is available for download here as well as the patient information here

Not all patients want to perform self-application. As an alternative, Amgen points to the Zur Rose pharmacy, which offers a home delivery service as well as the option for therapy accompaniment by telephone or ^Prolia® administration by nursing staff directly at patients’ homes. A form for prescribing this specialty care service is

here

to find.

Other providers such as the

Spitex

or

PharmOnline.ch

also play a major role in providing continuous patient care in these challenging times.