Addressing the needs of Malaysian postmenopausal women: A pharmacist-led screening programme in a teaching hospital primary care clinic

In Malaysia, the prevalence of osteoporosis in women age >45 years is approximately 1 in 4 making it a major public health concern. Osteoporosis is usually asymptomatic in its early stages. Consequently, women who may have osteoporosis remain unidentified. This may lead to unwanted fractures. Fractures are associated with a reduction in quality of life. There is a 3-fold increased risk of death within 5 years in those who fracture. It is therefore imperative to encourage prevention and screening programmes which aid in early detection of osteoporosis. Current research suggests that many individuals with fragility fractures do not undergo appropriate screening and do not engage in preventive health behaviours.

Pharmacists can work in collaboration with doctors to screen for osteoporosis, to educate patients on their osteoporosis risk, and to empower patients to take osteoporosis preventive measures. It is with this belief that we conducted this study to determine the effectiveness of a pharmacist osteoporosis screening programme in postmenopausal women.

This study design was developed based on the United Kingdom Medical Research Council’s Framework of developing and evaluating complex intervention. Hence, this research project was divided into three phases: phase one was to explore the perceptions of the stakeholders for conducting an osteoporosis screening programme, phase two was to develop tools for the osteoporosis screening programme whilst phase three was to conduct the a feasibility study on the osteoporosis screening programme.