Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Internal Medicine, Subang Jaya Medical Centre, Subang Jaya, Selangor, 47500, Malaysia
DOI: 10.11138/ccmbm/2017.15.1.074

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the treatment given to patients following a low trauma wrist fracture presenting to an Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department at a tertiary private hospital in Malaysia. Methods: The records of patients over the age of 50 attending A&E Department from 2011-2015 with a diagnosis of Colles Vdistal radius/wrist fracture were obtained. Information was extracted for those with a low trauma fracture. Data was analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 22.0 for Windows. Results: 191 patients presented with a wrist fracture for the years 2011-2015. 57 of these were due to accidents which left 134 (70.2%) low trauma wrist fractures for analysis. The mean age of the patients was 61.75 ± 10.23 [standard deviation (SD)] years. There were 87 (64.9%) females, and 90 (67.2%) were of Chinese ethnicity. Following the index low trauma wrist fracture, 16/134 (11.9%) were given anti-osteoporotic medication. Of those given treatment, 11/16 (68.8%) were given calcium/Vitamin D/activated Vitamin D and only 5/16 (31.2%) were given active anti-osteoporotic treatment. The median duration of prescribed treatment was one month. There was no significant difference in demographic factors between patients who were treated and not treated with anti-osteoporosis medication. Conclusions: Currently, treatment for osteoporosis following low trauma wrist fractures in Malaysia is inadequate with only 11.9% receiving treatment, and in those who are treated, the median duration of treatment was only one month. This represents a missed opportunity for the prevention of future fractures. © 2018 CIC Edizioni Internazionali s.r.l. All rights reserved.