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. 2021 Jan;32(1):39-46.
doi: 10.1007/s00198-020-05542-6. Epub 2020 Oct 14.

Global impact of COVID-19 on non-communicable disease management: descriptive analysis of access to FRAX fracture risk online tool for prevention of osteoporotic fractures

E V McCloskey  1   2 , N C Harvey  3   4 , H Johansson  5   6 , M Lorentzon  6   7   8 , L Vandenput  6   7 , E Liu  6 , J A Kanis  5   6
Affiliations

Global impact of COVID-19 on non-communicable disease management: descriptive analysis of access to FRAX fracture risk online tool for prevention of osteoporotic fractures

E V McCloskey et al. Osteoporos Int. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, and its management, is markedly impacting the management of osteoporosis as judged by access to online FRAX fracture risk assessments. Globally, access was 58% lower in April than in February 2020. Strategies to improve osteoporosis care, with greater use of fracture risk assessments, offer a partial solution.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant detrimental impact on the management of chronic diseases including osteoporosis. We have quantified the global impact by examining changes in the usage of online FRAX fracture risk assessments before and after the declaration of the pandemic (11 March 2020).

Methods: The study comprised a retrospective analysis using GoogleAnalytics data on daily sessions on the FRAX® website ( www.sheffield.ac.uk/FRAX ) from November 2019 to April 2020 (main analysis period February-April 2020), and the geographical source of that activity.

Results: Over February-April 2020, the FRAX website recorded 460,495 sessions from 184 countries, with 210,656 sessions in February alone. In March and April, the number of sessions fell by 23.1% and 58.3% respectively, a pattern not observed over the same period in 2019. There were smaller reductions in Asia than elsewhere, partly related to earlier and less-marked nadirs in some countries (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Vietnam). In Europe, the majority of countries (24/31, 77.4%) reduced usage by at least 50% in April. Seven countries showed smaller reductions (range - 2.85 to - 44.1%) including Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Finland. There was no significant relationship between the reduction in FRAX usage and measures of disease burden such as COVID-attributed deaths per million of the population.

Conclusion: This study documents a marked global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management of osteoporosis as reflected by FRAX online fracture risk assessments. The analysis suggests that impact may relate to the societal and healthcare measures taken to ameliorate the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; FRAX; Fracture; Non-communicable diseases (NCD); Osteoporosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr. McCloskey reports grants and/or personal fees from Amgen, Consilient Health, Fresenius Kabi, MSD, Novartis, Roche, AgNovos, Internis, and REDX Pharma, all outside the submitted work. Dr. Harvey reports personal fees, consultancy, lecture fees and honoraria from Alliance for Better Bone Health, AMGEN, MSD, Eli Lilly, Servier, Shire, UCB, Consilient Healthcare, Kyowa Kirin and Internis Pharma, all outside the submitted work. Dr. Kanis reports grants from Radius Health and grants from Amgen, all outside the submitted work and is the principal architect of FRAX but derives no income therefrom. Board Member of the International Osteoporosis Foundation, Dr. Lorentzon reports personal fees from Amgen, UCB Pharma, Radius Health, Renapharma, Consilient Health and Meda/Mylan, all outside the submitted work. Drs Johannson, Liu and Vandenput declare no conflicts.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Daily number of sessions recorded on the FRAX online website during the months of February, March and April 2020 (top panel) and 2019 (bottom panel). The date of the declaration of the pandemic is also shown on the top panel. The cyclical pattern reflects increased usage on weekdays with lower usage at the weekends
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Map of Europe showing the reduction in FRAX usage between February and April 2020. Countries shown in white were not included in the analysis
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Weekly FRAX session numbers (expressed as a percentage of baseline values calculated from usage in November 2019) between December 2019 and April 2020 in the countries shown
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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