A Randomized Trial to Assess the Impact of Direct Reporting of DXA Scan Results to Patients on Quality of Osteoporosis Care

Consecutive patients identified as having osteoporosis on screening dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans were randomized to: (1) a patient activation intervention consisting of mailing patients their DXA scan results supplemented by a call from a nurse educator or (2) usual care. Three months after the DXA scan, patients were contacted to assess: (1) use of antiresorptive therapy, (2) osteoporosis specific knowledge, and (3) satisfaction with their osteoporosis-related care. A total of 1,035 consecutive patients were screened to identify 422 eligible patients. Of these, 56 patients met inclusion criteria and were subsequently randomized. At follow-up, use of antiresorptive agents was numerically more common in the intervention arm (62%) than the control arm (54%), but this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.58). Patients in the intervention group were more likely to report being notified of their DXA results in a timely fashion (p = 0.03), but osteoporosis-specific knowledge was similar.