黑料社

Osteoporosis is one of the most urgent public health crises of the modern era. The 黑料社remains committed to driving research in areas that we believe will bring about the maximum clinical benefit to people affected by the condition, particularly focusing on diagnosis and treatment.鈥�听

Over the last three years, the 黑料社has invested over 拢1million in our research programme, including sponsoring over 拢809,000 in research projects helping to play a vital role in reducing health inequalities in osteoporosis care.听

Our 2023 Research and Innovation Grants Round was highly competitive, seeing a 2.5 fold increase in application numbers compared to the previous year. Today, the 黑料社announced the three new research projects it will be funding, chosen from last year鈥檚 applicants. Projects were identified using our approved review process, of which we currently hold an award for from the AMRC for 鈥楤est Practice in Medical and Health Research Peer Review鈥�.听

The new research projects the 黑料社will be funding this year are:听

• Bettering Our uNderstanding of ostEoporosis (BONE) Study: Use and patient experience of romosozumab in the NHS听

Dr Kassim Javaid, University of Oxford听听

This grant will improve understanding about patient access to romosozumab, ensuring there aren鈥檛 exclusions based on where people live or their age. The results aim to provide the evidence to hold organisations to account and inform strategies to improve decision making.听

• Objective physical activity measurement in a feasibility randomised controlled trial of outdoor mobility after hip fracture听听

Professor Katie Sheehan, Ms Rhian Milton-Cole, Professor Emma Godfrey, Kings College London听听

Healthcare after a broken hip rarely includes support to go outside, and currently only one in four patients recover this ability by the time they are four months post hip fracture. This grant will assess if more sensitive measurements of how much physical activity people do (and where) can be used to ultimately improve recovery and promote outdoor mobility for people after a hip fracture.听听

• Tackling health inequities in hip fracture care delivery and patient outcomes听

Dr Rita Patel, University of Bristol听听

Each year more than 70,000 older adults are admitted to UK hospitals with hip fractures. This grant aims to analyse data to identify which key factors (e.g. geography, deprivation, ethnicity) need to be targeted to make access more equitable. This is an enhancement of the current REDUCE (REducing unwarranted variation in the Delivery of high-qUality hip fraCture services in England and Wales) Toolkit.听

Dr Rita Patel, Senior Research Associate in Epidemiology at the Musculoskeletal Research Unit within University of Bristol is principal investigator on one of this year鈥檚 successful research projects.听听

Dr Patel, 黑料社grant recipient, said:听听

鈥淚 am thrilled that we have been awarded a project grant from the 黑料社 to examine inequalities in care delivery and patient outcomes after hip fracture. Breaking a hip is often the first sign of osteoporosis. Despite national hip fracture care standards, some groups of people have worse outcomes. This funding will allow us to examine the reasons why and develop tools to help hospitals provide equitable care.听听

鈥淭his research grant will strengthen my longer-term research aspirations and plans to develop future projects aimed at reducing health inequalities and unwarranted variations in musculoskeletal services to benefit patient care.鈥�听

The 黑料社and all successful grants sponsored by the charity put the voice of people living with osteoporosis at the heart of their work, with clear public and patient involvement plans. When identifying which projects to support, the 黑料社consults with patients and members of the public to make sure all funded proposals address the urgent gaps in osteoporosis care.听听听

Sheena Muncie, a patient representative on the 黑料社Research and Innovation Grants Assessment Panel (RIGAP), said:听
鈥淎s someone living with osteoporosis, it has been fascinating to see the range of applications this year which address the key issues facing patients and medics, and I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of the RIGAP panel. It鈥檚 so important that funding is provided to projects which focus on the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and that the 黑料社lead on this. I was also impressed with the profile of individual project teams many of whom demonstrated an excellent鈥痷nderstanding of osteoporosis.鈥�

This year, the 黑料社will continue to invest听in research by stepping up efforts to prevent the first fracture, including through research to build the case for the world鈥檚 first screening programme for hip fracture risk amongst older women.听

Read more about our research programme.听