Osteoporose: epidemiologi, frakturrisiko, opsporing, forebyggelse og kliniske og sundhedsrelateret udfald i den danske befolkning
Short Summary
Osteoporosis is a growing challenge in an ageing population and increases the risk of fractures, with substantial health-related and socioeconomic consequences. This project will examine the epidemiology of osteoporosis and related fractures in the Danish population, including fracture risk, detection, prevention, and clinical and socioeconomic consequences, to provide a broader understanding of its impact from the individual level to society as a whole.
Rationale
The risk of developing osteoporosis increases with age, as does the risk of osteoporotic fractures, which may have substantial physical, psychological, and health-related consequences for the individual. In addition, osteoporosis costs Danish society more than DKK 15 billion annually. As the population ages, the number of individuals developing osteoporosis is expected to increase, and the associated consequences are therefore also likely to rise. The aim of this project is therefore to examine osteoporosis and related fractures in the Danish population, with a focus on disease epidemiology, fracture epidemiology, risk factors, detection and prevention, and clinical and health-related outcomes. The project will include analyses of disease occurrence and trends over time, identification of risk factors and risk profiles, and evaluation of strategies for early detection and prevention of osteoporosis and fractures. In addition, the project will involve the development, validation, and application of statistical and machine-learning-based models for risk stratification, screening, and decision support. Finally, the project aims to examine the use of healthcare services, diagnostic procedures, and treatment, and their importance for disease trajectories and outcomes, including fractures, morbidity, and mortality. As part of the overall project, a PhD project titled “DXA in Denmark: Capacity and Cost-Effectiveness of Risk-Targeted Strategies for Fracture Prevention” has already been initiated. The PHD project will map all DXA-related activities in Denmark during the period 2000–2025. The project will investigate the health and socioeconomic impact of undergoing DXA scanning compared with not being scanned among individuals with the same FREM-predicted fracture risk. In addition, it will evaluate the potential impact of implementing age- and sex-specific referral strategies if FREM were implemented in clinical practice. The PhD student is Kasper Westphal Leth, with Katrine Hass Rubin, Lars Folkestad, Marie Kruse, and Jens-Jakob Møller as supervisors.
Description of the cohort
This is a register-based study in which information on all individuals who lived in Denmark and were alive at any point during the period 2000–2025 will be included in the study population. The expected number of participants will be approximately 8.5 million individuals.
Data and biological material
This project is primarily register-based and will use data from Danish national health and administrative registers, including information on demographics, diagnoses, medication, healthcare utilisation, and socioeconomic factors. The data will be obtained from the following registers: the Danish Civil Registration System, The National Patient Registry, The Danish National Prescription Registry, National Health Insurance Service Register, Danish Ambulatory Grouping System, The Danish Education Registers, Income and Transfer Payment Registers, The Employment Classification Module, and the Municipal Care Registers, through OPENs authorisation to Statistics Denmark. Clinical indicators of osteoporosis, such as DXA results or biomarkers, may also be incorporated at a later stage.
Hvis du er interesseret i data eller biologisk materiale fra dette projekt, tag da kontakt til open@rsyd.dk, OPEN vil så kontakte den pågældende forsker for at høre om mulighederne for samarbejde. OPEN hjælper sundhedsvidenskabelige forskere i Region Syddanmark med dataindsamling, biobank, registerdata og formalia omkring deres forskningsprojekter.