The estimation of the quality of diagnostics of post-menstrual osteoporosis in the Moscow region from the results of a questionnaire study

Abstract

The present questionnaire study including female residents of the Moscow region (MR) above the age of 55 years with the confirmed diagnosis of post-menopausal osteoporosis (OP) was designed to obtain an insight into the procedure employed to diagnose post-menopausal OP, categories of specialists involved in diagnostics of this condition, and the methods they use for the purpose. The results of the study indicate that 57.4% of the patients with OP in the first place applied for advice in connection with this disease to an endocrinologist, 19.7% to an orthopedist-traumatologist, 13.% to a rheumatologist, and 4.9% to a neurologist. The endocrinologists referred such patients for bone densitometry and made the diagnosis of post-menopausal osteoporosis in 79% and 70% of the cases respectively. Only a small fraction of orthopedists-traumatologists and rheumatologists practicing in the Moscow region are engaged in diagnostics of post-menopausal osteoporosis as a part of their major activities. At the same time, therapists, gynecologists, and general practitioners do not practically encounter the patients complaining of post-menopausal OP. 38%, 30% and 28% of the respondents reported to have applied to two, three, and one physicians respectively to have the diagnosis of this condition confirmed. However, in the majority of the cases the period from the first visit to a specialist till the establishment of the definitive diagnosis was as long as 1 year (39%). The diagnosis of OP in a small number of the patients was made with the use of a single method, e.g. X-ray densitometry (12%), ultrasonometry (4%), and X-radiography of the skeletal bones (2%). The remaining patients were examined by more than one method; most of them had the primary diagnosis verified by means of X-ray densitometry (77%), blood biochemical analysis (77%), X-radiography of the spinal column (67%), and either by the detection of the serum bone turnover markers or ultrasonometry (16%). The majority of densitometric procedures were performed based at the Moscow Therapeutic and Prophylactic Department and M.F. Vladimirsky Moscow Regional Research Clinical Institute (73% and 17% respectively) for the lack of densitometers in the local medical facilities of the Moscow region.