CHP/PCOR Quarterly Update, summer 2006 issue

This issue of CHP/PCOR's quarterly newsletter, which covers news from the spring 2006 quarter, includes articles about:

• a study led by CHP/PCOR trainee Hau Liu which found that teriparatide (Forteo) -- the first in a new class of osteoporosis drugs -- is not cost-effective compared with the most commonly prescribed osteoporosis drug, alendronate (Fosamax), due largely to teriparatide's much higher price;
• an update on projects and priorities at CADMA (the Center on Advancing Decision Making in Aging) and CDEHA (the Center on the Demography and Economics of Health and Aging), two multidisciplinary research centers based at CHP/PCOR that support promising early-stage projects on health, economics and aging;
• an April working trip by CHP/PCOR research assistants Meghan Fay and Raina Mahajan, in which they traveled to San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala, with faculty member Paul Wise, assisting him with various medical treatment and health promotion activities in the region; and
• a meta-analysis led by CHP/PCOR trainee Smita Nayak which evaluated the accuracy of an emerging screening test for osteoporosis -- heel ultrasound -- compared with the standard test, known as DXA. The study found that there is not enough evidence to recommend heel ultrasound over DXA as an osteoporosis screening tool.