Healthy Bones Study: can a prescription coupled with education improve bone health for patients receiving androgen deprivation therapy?—a before/after study

To evaluate the ability of a multimodal patient education initiative to improve adherence to healthy bone behaviors (HBBs) in men with prostate cancer receiving androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). This was a pilot prospective, single-site, before-and-after clinical trial. The control arm (n = 51) received routine care. The intervention arm (n = 52) received multimodal HBB education which included a healthy bones prescription (BoneRx), focused face-to-face education with an oncology nurse or physician, and customized educational materials. The primary endpoints were feasibility of study methods and self-reported adherence to HBBs (vitamin D intake ≥ 1000 IU/day, calcium intake 1000–1500 mg/day, and exercise ≥ 150 min/week) at 3-month follow-up. Secondary endpoints included receipt of bone mineral density (BMD) testing. Patients were satisfied with the study intervention, found educational materials easy to understand, and felt that it increased their knowledge about osteoporosis. Although the intervention appeared to be associated with trends toward improved levels of vitamin D intake (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.74–4.5), calcium intake (OR 1.5, 95% CI 0.63–3.4), and exercise (OR 1.7, 0.75–3.9) as compared to the control arm, none of these were statistically significant. Patients who received the study intervention were more likely to receive BMD testing (OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.3–8.8). Although a brief, tailored educational intervention was feasible to implement and improve BMD test utilization, it did not increase HBB participation. Larger, well-designed trials are needed to clarify the effect of patient education interventions on HBB adherence. ClinicalTrials.gov ( NCT01973673 )