[Initial treatment trends in patient with osteoporosis: use of antiresorptive agents and pharmacologic supplements (calcium and vitamin D) in clinical practice].

OBJECTIVE To describe the percentage of prescription of pharmacologic supplements in patients starting antiresorptive treatment (ART) for osteoporosis by specialists. DESIGN Cross-sectional, naturalistic, multicenter study with retrospective data collection. PATIENTS AND METHODS 88 Spanish primary care (PC) physicians participated as well as those from Bone Metabolism Unit / Rheumatology and Gynecology units. Patients were females with osteoporosis who started ART in the 12 to 36 months prior to the visit. MAIN OUTCOMES General clinical variables and those related to osteoporosis treatment (both ART and pharmacologic supplements) and an opinion survey on pharmacologic supplements. RESULTS 480 patients were included. Mean age (SD) was 65.8 (9.2) years. Pharmacologic supplements were prescribed in 69.6% of patients and were more frequent in patients treated in Bone Metabolism/Rheumatology Units (89.1%) than patients treated by PC (60.3%) and Gynecology (55.6%). In the physician survey, 72% of the Bone Metabolism / Rheumatology Unit physicians responded that the Vitamin D supplements were necessary for treatment of osteoporosis vs. 38.5% of PC physicians (p=0.058). CONCLUSIONS The use of pharmacologic supplements in the onset of treatment with ART represents more than 60% of the sample, although differences were seen between specialists, with a greater percentage of patients with supplements in the Bone Metabolism/Rheumatology Units than in PC and Gynecology, despite guidelines primarily recommend the use of pharmacologic supplements in these patients.