Outpatient costs of osteoporosis in a national health insurance population.

There are few valid data on the outpatient diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis in Germany, despite the high prevalence of this disease and the high costs associated with its complications. We therefore conducted a retrospective cohort study to investigate the prevalence of documented osteoporosis and the use of health care resources in its outpatient treatment in a representative random sample of 7490 patients from the Dresden area who were insured under the national health insurance program for a 1-year period from the 3rd quarter of 1993 to the 2nd quarter of 1994. Documented cases of osteoporosis were identified by International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision diagnostic codes M80 to M82, and the costs of diagnostic services for osteoporosis were calculated using a uniform fee schedule. Specific and nonspecific osteoporosis medications were classified using a published anatomic-therapeutic-chemical code, and their costs were calculated on the basis of pharmacy sales prices. Three age- and sex-matched controls without documented osteoporosis (n = 705) were assigned for each case patient in estimating the net use of resources. Data for the region, as well as age-standardized information for the overall German national health insurance system, were calculated. The 1-year prevalence of documented osteoporosis in the region was 3.14% (5.20% in women, 0.89% in men), and the age-standardized prevalence in the German national health insurance system was 2.25%. During the study period, 51.1% of the cases and 2.1% of the controls were examined by osteodensitometry. Patients received 106 defined daily doses of osteoporosis medications during the year; 37.0% of the prescribed daily doses were for sodium fluorophosphate/calcium combinations, 4.3% were for sodium fluoride, and 7.7% were for calcium alone. Sex hormones and calcitonin each accounted for 7.7% of the prescribed daily doses. Only a fraction of epidemiologically expected cases of osteoporosis have been identified and documented in the outpatient sector. Only approximately 50% of these receive osteoporosis-specific therapy, and compliance with therapy is low. To reduce osteoporosis-associated fracture rates, which are extremely cost intensive and greatly impair patients' quality of life, more consistent treatment is needed.