Osteoporosis Research

Clinical and research endeavors focused on two main aspects of osteoporosis care:

Better identification of individuals at risk of future fracture

Osteoporosis has traditionally been identified in one of two ways: the presence of a fragility fracture or by a screening dual energy absorptiometry (DXA) scan. Our researchers are now able to leverage increasing amounts of data in the medical record and apply new analysis methodology to previously performed imaging (e.g., being able to obtain measurement data historically only derived from DXA from routinely performed computed tomography scans), allowing for better identification of individuals at risk for future fracture.

Designing better care pathways and interventions for osteoporosis identification and management

In collaboration with colleagues in the Office of Clinical Integration at UMass Memorial Health, a number of initiatives including increasing DXA screening in individuals of color as well as linkage of individuals with osteoporosis into care have been implemented with initial positive results.

Our team also collaborate with colleagues in the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (Qiming Shi, MS) and the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences (Adrian Zai, MD, PhD), a program of work related to increasing screening of osteoporosis in primary care has been started, supported by the UMass Ambulatory Research Consortium.