Gastrointestinal symptoms and association with medication use patterns, adherence, treatment satisfaction, quality of life, and resource use in osteoporosis: baseline results of the MUSIC-OS study

SUMMARY: The Medication Use Patterns, Treatment Satisfaction, and Inadequate Control of Osteoporosis Study (MUSIC-OS) is a prospective, observational study of women with osteoporosis in Europe and Canada. At baseline, patients with gastrointestinal symptoms reported lower adherence to osteoporosis treatment, treatment satisfaction, and health-related quality of life, than those without gastrointestinal symptoms. INTRODUCTION: The aim of the study was to examine gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and the association between GI symptoms and treatment adherence, treatment satisfaction, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among osteoporotic women in Europe and Canada. METHODS: Baseline results are reported here for a prospective study which enrolled postmenopausal, osteoporotic women who were initiating (new users) or continuing (experienced users) osteoporosis treatment at study entry (baseline). A patient survey was administered at baseline and included the occurrence of GI symptoms during 6-month pre-enrolment, treatment adherence (adherence evaluation of osteoporosis (ADEOS), score 0–22), treatment satisfaction (Osteoporosis Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medications (OPSAT-Q), score 0–100) and HRQoL (EuroQol-5 dimension (EQ-5D) utility, score 0–1; OPAQ-SV, score 0–100). The association between GI symptoms and ADEOS (experienced users), OPSAT-Q (experienced users), and HRQoL (new and experienced users) was assessed by general linear models adjusted for patient characteristics. RESULTS: A total of 2959 patients (2275 experienced and 684 new users) were included. Overall, 68.1 % of patients experienced GI symptoms in the past 6 months. Compared with patients without GI symptoms, patients with GI symptoms had lower mean baseline scores on most measures. The mean adjusted differences were ADEOS, −0.43; OPSAT-Q, −5.68; EQ-5D, −0.04 (new users) and −0.06 (experienced users), all P < 0.01. GI symptoms were also associated with lower OPAQ-SV domain scores: physical function, −4.17 (experienced users); emotional status, −4.28 (new users) and −5.68 (experienced users); back pain, −5.82 (new users) and −11.33 (experienced users), all P < 0.01. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with GI symptoms have lower treatment adherence and treatment satisfaction and worse HRQoL than patients without GI symptoms.