About

Break the worldwide fragility fracture cycle

The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) has developed Capture the Fracture®, a global programme to facilitate the implementation of Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) for secondary fracture prevention.

The implementation of FLS is the single most important thing that can be done to directly improve patient care and reduce spiralling fracture-related healthcare costs worldwide.

This website highlights successful models of care that have been developed throughout the world and provides a comprehensive collection of resources to support those wishing to develop an effective FLS.

The Key Facts

  • A common disease: It is estimated that worldwide, a fragility fracture occurs every three seconds.
  • One fracture leads to another: Having suffered a prior fragility fracture almost doubles a patient’s future fracture risk.
  • Fractures are warning signs: Half of patients presenting with hip fractures have suffered a prior fracture.
  • We fail to ‘capture’ the first fracture: The majority of fragility fracture patients are neither assessed, nor treated by their health care system to reduce fracture risk.
  • The Care Gap: To achieve a significant reduction in future fracture rates and resulting healthcare costs, healthcare systems must target those patients who have already suffered a fracture, as they are the ones at highest risk for future fractures.

The Proven Solution

A growing body of evidence from many countries shows that Fracture Liaison Services – a coordinated, multi-disciplinary approach to patient care – offer the most clinically and cost-effective secondary preventive care. Capture the Fracture supports this systematic approach to secondary fracture prevention because it has been demonstrated to result in fewer fractures and significant cost savings for healthcare systems.

The IOF Fracture Working group has published an important review outlining the evidence:

Coordinator-based systems for secondary prevention in fragility fracture patients. D. Marsh, K. Åkesson, D. E. Beaton, E. R. Bogoch, S. Boonen, M.-L. Brandi, A. R. McLellan, P. J. Mitchell, J. E. M. Sale, D. A. Wahl and the IOF CSA Fracture Working Group. Osteoporos Int. 2011 Jul;22(7):2051-2065. PubMed ID 21607807

Capture the Fracture® is a registered trademark of IOF.