Inpatient rehabilitation fracture liaison service (FLS) improves outcomes for secondary prevention of hip fractures

Background: Secondary fracture prevention is a well-defined treatment-gap within osteoporosis management. Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) coordinates the management and treatment of patients following a fragility fracture in order to close the care gap. We aim to assess the efficacy of the FLS initiative in the management and treatment of patients following fragility hip fracture in the inpatient rehabilitation setting. Methods: This is a diagnostic, retrospective cohort study using a deidentified, electronic health record database. In the extraction process, patients with fragility hip fractures were identified. Patients after major trauma or malignancy were excluded. The prevalence of initiation and adherence to anti-osteoporotic treatments, including alendronate, risedronate, zoledronate, denosumab, romosozumab, and teriparatide, was compared between the rehabilitation FLS initiative patients and patients from other hospitals without FLS. Results: A total of 4,124 patients with fragility hip fractures were identified between 2017 and 2021. The FLS initiative showed significantly higher rates of treatment initiation, with 72.1 % of patients receiving pharmacological therapy following a hip fracture, compared to 45.1 % in hospitals without FLS (p < 0.001). Patients in the FLS group also demonstrated higher rates of good adherence and lower rates of poor adherence (p < 0.001). Denosumab was the most commonly prescribed anti-osteoporotic treatment within the FLS initiative. Conclusions: The FLS in the inpatient rehabilitation setting was found to be highly effective in improving time to treatment initiation and adherence rates to prescribe anti-osteoporosis therapy. These findings demonstrate the role of FLS in addressing the osteoporosis treatment gap following fragility hip fracture.