ISTANBUL, Turkey, April 10 /PRNewswire/ --
-- Multi-national study will follow 60,000 women for 5 years
Nearly 60,000 women aged 55 years and older have enrolled in a landmark, multi-national study that will focus on the management of osteoporosis across the globe. Launch of the Global Longitudinal Registry of Osteoporosis in Women (GLOW) was announced today at ECCEO 8 (Eighth European Congress on Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis) in Istanbul, Turkey. This groundbreaking observational study (registry) in osteoporosis aims to gain insights to improve the standard of care for postmenopausal women at risk of osteoporosis.
"We know that there are patients at high risk for osteoporosis, sometimes already having suffered a broken bone, who aren't getting diagnosed and treated. We have to figure out why not," said Dr. Robert Lindsay, GLOW Executive Committee Co-Chair and Chief of Internal Medicine at Helen Hayes Hospital, West Haverstraw, NY. "Globally we have an aging female population that wants to maintain independence and vitality. We can help by finding the key to improving diagnosis and treatment of this debilitating disease."
GLOW will monitor tens of thousands of older women who have visited a primary care physician in the past two years. Since patient recruitment for GLOW is not linked to osteoporosis diagnosis and does not alter physician practice, the study provides a good representation of "typical" older women and the bone health care they receive in the real world. Women are participating from 17 cities in 10 countries on 3 continents.
"We want to understand regional differences in physician and patient behavior and how that impacts patient outcomes," said Professor Pierre Delmas, GLOW Executive Committee Co-Chair and Professor of Medicine and Rheumatology, Université Claude Bernard, Lyon, France. "Hopefully, armed with that knowledge we will be able to recommend best practices and improve the management of osteoporosis worldwide."
GLOW is being conducted by The Center for Outcomes Research (COR), University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), with the support of an unrestricted research grant from The Alliance for Better Bone Health. The Alliance for Better Bone Health is a collaboration between sanofi-aventis and Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals.
"We are grateful for the commitment of the sponsors and scientific advisors to the GLOW project. We anticipate that these data will provide important information to improve the quality of lives of women at risk for osteoporotic fractures," said Dr. Fred Anderson, Director of the Center for Outcomes Research and research professor of surgery and medicine at UMMS. "This pioneering initiative will be the first comprehensive multi-national look into the relationship between risk factors, patient outcomes and treatment patterns for osteoporosis."
Milestone data from GLOW will be communicated on an ongoing basis at international medical conferences and through peer-reviewed publications. For more information on GLOW, please visit: http://www.outcomes.org/glow/
About GLOW
GLOW is a prospective, longitudinal, observational study of women over 55 years of age who visited a primary care physician during the two years prior to the study. Women were recruited through 700 primary care physicians in 17 cities in North America, Europe, and Australia. GLOW will gather information on osteoporosis risk factors, treatment approaches, patient behavior, and fracture outcomes with an annual patient survey over a 5 year period.
GLOW study sites are the following:
Lyon, France
Paris, France
Leuven, Belgium
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Barcelona, Spain
Essen, Germany
Verona, Italy
Southampton, UK
West Haverstraw, NY USA
Worcester, MA USA
Pittsburgh, PA USA
Seattle, WA USA
Cincinnati, OH USA
Los Angeles, CA USA
Birmingham, AL USA
Hamilton, Ontario Canada
Sydney, Australia
Notes to Editors
Spokespeople available for comment:
Dr. Robert Lindsay
Executive committee co-chair, GLOW
Chief of Internal Medicine at Helen Hayes Hospital, West Haverstraw, NY
Professor Pierre Delmas
Executive committee co-chair, GLOW
Professor of medicine and rheumatology, Université Claude Bernard, Lyon, France
About osteoporosis
Osteoporosis-related fragility fractures are an international public health problem responsible for increased mortality, functional impairment and added health care costs. Estimates are that between 40 and 50 percent of white women above the age of 50 in North America, Europe and Australia will incur an osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime. Although their rates are lower, non-white women and men are also susceptible. Because the likelihood of fragility fractures increases dramatically with age, fracture numbers are projected to rise as the population ages.
About the Center for Outcomes Research (COR)
COR is based at the University of Massachusetts, Worcester, MA, USA. The mission of COR is to collect and evaluate data that reflect real world practices and outcomes and to provide physicians with confidential reports that allow comparison of their practices to evidence based performance standards. For more information, please visit: http://www.outcomes.org
For further information: Helen Crow, Ketchum, Tel: +44(0)7787-533-023, Email: helen.crow@ketchum.com; Peter Impey, Ketchum, Tel: +44(0)7976-734-493, Email: peter.impey@ketchum.com
