Thursday 13 October marked 21 years since the inception of Healthy Bones Australia.
The not-for-profit organisation has seen some outstanding achievements in championing community and health professional awareness and understanding of osteoporosis over the years, with Health Bones Australia Chairman, Professor Peter Ebeling AO, saying that the organisation is looking forward to kicking more goals in the near future.
“Over the past 21 years, Healthy Bones Australia has advanced the importance of protecting our Australian population’s bones. During this time, we’ve witnessed substantial change in the healthcare system’s focus on the detection and treatment of osteoporosis, and community and government understanding of the importance of maintaining healthy bones,” Professor Ebeling said.
“As recently as 20 years ago, bone health was a largely overlooked, and untreated area. It is now recognised as an important chronic disease and a health priority area for Australia.
“Importantly, however, we recognise there is much more to be done. Within the next five years, our focus is to:
- Establish a Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) in every capital city of Australia;
- Deliver comprehensive and updated guidelines for GPs, who work at the frontline of osteoporosis management;
- Drive half a million Australians aged 50+ to undertake our Know Your Bones online self-assessment (currently sitting at almost 100,000 assessments);
- Advocate for broader patient access to osteoporosis diagnosis and treatment; and
- Support new and innovative osteoporosis diagnostic opportunities.
“In this regard, I am delighted to announce today, that we are on our way to fulfilling one of our goals, by partnering with the Australian company, CurveBeam AI, in the validation of a new diagnostic tool for osteoporosis, following a decade of research.
“The new tool, OssView™, is a compact, high-resolution CT scanner combined with a new bone fragility software that generates an ‘SFS score’ (Structural Fragility Score).
“This new bone diagnostic approach examines the support structure of the bone (bone micro-architecture), not only its density. An OssView™ result, used with Bone Mineral Density (BMD) testing, is expected to greatly assist GPs and Specialists with identifying patients who are at high risk of fracture, and yet may only have a low or normal bone density on conventional BMD testing.
“On its own, because of its size and ease of mobility, the OssView™ test will also help to improve access for elderly people in remote, rural or nursing home settings, to better inform them, and their doctors, of their fracture risk, to help target treatment to prevent fragility fractures,” he said.
‘Early diagnosis of OA is crucial’
There is a rising prevalence of osteoporosis in Australia with research showing that more than 4.74 million Australians aged over 50 years are living with poor bone health.
Given these statistics early diagnosis of the condition is crucial and, as CEO of Health Bones Australia Greg Lyubomirsky says, it will help to reduce “fracture rates and their subsequent impacts and costs”.
“We need to focus on prevention, which means understanding risk factors for poor bone health, early diagnosis, and appropriate and prompt treatment.
“This new diagnostic tool, used with BMD testing, can assist Healthy Bones Australia’s ongoing work in generating awareness of the importance of bone health, to ensure all Australians are better protected against sustaining fractures in the future,” Mr Lyubomirsky said.
According to the University of Melbourne Professor, and Medical Director of CurveBeam AI, Ego Seeman. Melbourne: “This new diagnostic tool provides a new direction for identifying women at risk of breaking a bone in the next year or two, by measuring their bone structure. This early detection will help doctors to treat before a fracture occurs.”
To learn more about Healthy Bones Australia, visit: healthybonesaustralia.org.au.
World Osteoporosis Day is Thursday 20 October.
