TUESDAY, Aug. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Screening and treating older men for osteoporosis can be cost-effective, according to a report in the Aug. 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
John T. Schousboe, M.D., of Park Nicollet Health Services in Minneapolis, and colleagues used a computer model to compare the cost-effectiveness of intervention or no intervention in populations of white men aged 65, 70, 75, 80 or 85 years with or without clinical fracture.
For men aged 65 years or older who had already had a fracture and for those aged 80 and older with no prior history of fracture, densitometry and follow-up costs were below $50,000. A number of factors had an impact on cost-effectiveness, including the cost of oral bisphosphonate and its efficacy in fracture reduction, the association between bone mineral density and fractures, fracture rates and disutility, and the extent to which patients adhered to the medication regimen.
"This strategy may be cost-effective for men aged 65 years or older with a prior clinical fracture and for men aged 80 years or older without a prior fracture, assuming a societal willingness to pay per quality-adjusted life-year gained of $50,000," the authors conclude, adding that societal acceptance of costs double that figure would make it cost-effective for white men aged 70 years or older regardless of fracture history.
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