Many glucocorticoid users are not getting DEXA scans, antiresorptives. (Osteoporosis Risk Prevention).

HONOLULU - Chronic users of glucocorticoids, who are at increased risk of osteoporosis, failed to receive bone mineral density scans or antiresorptive drugs in a study of more than 400 HMO patients.

Claims data from a 122,000-member HMO revealed that rheumatologists were more likely than other specialists to follow osteoporosis prevention guidelines established by the American College of Rheumatology.

But even the rheumatologists obtained dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans on 55% of patients who were prescribed at least 5 mg or more of prednisone/day for at least 3 consecutive months, Dr. J. Timothy Harrington of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, said at an international symposium sponsored by the National Osteoporosis Foundation.

The ACR guidelines call for baseline and subsequent BMD measurements and appropriate preventive therapy in patients taking glucocorticoids long term for conditions such as asthma, chronic lung disease, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, or after organ transplantation.

Dr. Harrington and his associate Dr. William A. Reay found that DEXA ...