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. 2020 Nov;31(11):2077-2081.
doi: 10.1007/s00198-020-05495-w. Epub 2020 Jun 19.

IQ driving QI: the Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis (APCO): an innovative and collaborative initiative to improve osteoporosis care in the Asia Pacific

M Chandran  1 , S K Bhadada  2 , P R Ebeling  3 , N L Gilchrist  4 , A H Khan  5 , P Halbout  6 , S Lekamwasam  7 , G Lyubomirsky  8 , P J Mitchell  9 , T V Nguyen  10   11 , K L Tiu  12 ; Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis
Affiliations

IQ driving QI: the Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis (APCO): an innovative and collaborative initiative to improve osteoporosis care in the Asia Pacific

M Chandran et al. Osteoporos Int. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis (APCO) comprises of clinical experts from across the Asia Pacific region, uniting to develop solutions to problems facing osteoporosis management and care. The vision of APCO is to reduce the burden of osteoporosis and fragility fractures in the Asia Pacific region.

Introduction: The Asia Pacific (AP) region comprises 71 countries with vastly different healthcare systems. It is predicted that by 2050, more than half the world's hip fractures will occur in this region. The Asia Pacific Consortium on Osteoporosis (APCO) was set up in May 2019 with the vision of reducing the burden of osteoporosis and fragility fractures in the AP region.

Methods: APCO has so far brought together 39 clinical experts from countries and regions across the AP to develop solutions to challenges facing osteoporosis management and fracture prevention in this highly populous region of the world. APCO aims to achieve its vision by engaging with relevant stakeholders including healthcare providers, policy makers and the public. The initial APCO project is to develop and implement a Framework of pan-AP minimum clinical standards for the screening, diagnosis and management of osteoporosis.

Results and conclusions: The Framework will serve as a platform upon which new national clinical guidelines can be developed or existing guidelines be revised, in a standardised fashion. The Framework will also facilitate benchmarking for provision of quality of care. It is hoped that the principles underlying the formation and functioning of APCO can be adopted by other regions and that every health care facility and progressively every country in the world can follow our aspirational path and progress towards best practice.

Keywords: Asia Pacific; Clinical standards; Collaboration; Fragility fracture; Osteoporosis; Quality improvement.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Manju Chandran has received honoraria for lectures and sponsorships for conferences from Eli Lilly and Amgen.

Professor Peter Ebeling has research funding from Amgen, Eli-Lilly, Novartis and Alexion and has received honoraria from Amgen and Alexion.

Paul Mitchell (PM) has undertaken consultancy for governments, national and international osteoporosis societies, healthcare professional organisations and private sector companies relating to systematic approaches to fragility fracture care and prevention since 2005. PM serves as APCO Project Manager on a paid consultancy basis.

Professor Tuan Nguyen has received grant support from Amgen and honoraria for lectures and conference engagements from Novartis, MSD, Amgen and Bridge Health Care.

Drs Sanjay Bhadada, Nigel Gilchrist, Aysha Habib Khan, Philippe Halbout, Sarath Lekamwasam, Greg Lyubomirsky and Kwok Leung Tiu declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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