Southampton researchers to lead new partnership to reduce hip fractures

Researchers at the University of Southampton are to lead to a new partnership that will improve UK national policy on systematic fracture risk assessment in the community.

Every year over 500,000 older people in the UK break a bone due to osteoporosis (weakening of the bones) costing over £5 billion annually. 

The MRC-funded SCreening for Osteoporosis in Older People (SCOOP) trial, led by the University of Southampton, demonstrated that routinely assessing fracture risk via the GP surgery significantly reduced the number of hip fractures. If such an approach were implemented nationwide, it would substantially impact the fracture burden on our hard-pressed NHS. 

The new partnership between MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, University of Southampton, University of Sheffield and the UK Royal Osteoporosis Society, aims to disseminate the findings of this trial, and change policy and practice, by undertaking a wide-ranging consultation to gather evidence and produce a new policy report highlighting the benefits of automated systematic identification of individuals at high fracture risk in primary care.

The project will be undertaken with the UK Royal Osteoporosis Society as the lead partner, capitalising on the charity’s substantial expertise and experience of policy work, including its key role in the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Osteoporosis and Bone Health.

The findings will comprise a major component of the charity’s investigation into community assessment and prevention of osteoporotic fracture, and the subsequent report will be presented to policymakers such as the UK Screening Programme Committee and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Professor Nicholas Harvey at the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre (MRC LEC), University of Southampton, will lead the project, which is funded by the Medical Research Foundation.

Professor Harvey commented: “We are hugely grateful to the Medical Research Foundation for their support of this important work, which gives us a real opportunity to alter UK policy in a way that would achieve a step change in our ability to detect individuals at high fracture risk in the community and thus prevent potentially life changing outcomes in older people.”

Mr Craig Jones, Chief Executive Officer at the Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS), said: “It is a great pleasure to be part of this exciting collaboration, which provides a fantastic opportunity to build upon the advances with regard to Fracture Liaison Services that we achieved through our work with the UK All Party Parliamentary Group in Osteoporosis.”

Professor Eugene McCloskey, Professor of Adult Bone Disease at the University of Sheffield, added, “This project is perfectly aligned with our international progression towards systematic assessment of fracture risk in primary care, through work we are leading with the International Osteoporosis Foundation and through the ROS Osteoporosis and Bone Research Academy.  It represents a real opportunity to improve the health of many individuals in older age.”

Professor Cyrus Cooper, Director and Professor of Rheumatology, MRC LEC, University of Southampton and President of the International Osteoporosis Foundation, concluded, “This important collaboration between our academic institutions and the Royal Osteoporosis Society demonstrates the huge value in the synthesis of expertise across academic understanding and policy development, and is entirely congruent with the mission of the International Osteoporosis Foundation, which is delighted to support this work.”