Table 1 Descriptive statistics of patient sample and their characteristics
Variable | % or mean (sd) |
|---|---|
Demographics | |
 Gender (female) | 85.0 |
Age | |
 < 50 | 5.0 |
 50–64 | 32.5 |
 65–74 | 30.0 |
 75 +  | 32.5 |
Socio-economic conditions | |
 Employment status | |
  Retired | 61.3 |
  Employed | 32.5 |
  Unemployed | 6.3 |
 Current job (or previous if retired or unemployed)a | |
  Business person, manager/academic, researcher, teacher | 22.1 |
  White collar/tradesman | 42.9 |
  Blue collar | 16.9 |
  Housewife | 18.2 |
 Education | |
  Low level | 37.5 |
  Middle level | 30.0 |
  High level | 32.5 |
Clinical characteristics | |
 Charlson Comorbidity Index | 7.3 (3.0) |
 No previous history of bone fracture | 21.3 |
 Bone fractures during observation period (i.e., TC) | 7.5 |
 Years since diagnosis of osteoporosis | 10.8 (5.6) |
 Total length of pharmacological treatment for osteoporosis (years)b | 8.2 (4.7) |
 Anti-osteoporosis pharmacological therapy | |
  Oral bisphosphonate | 7.5 |
  Denosumab | 53.8 |
  Teriparatide | 32.5 |
  Zoledronic acid | 6.3 |
Pattern of TC use | |
 Date of first TC | |
  Emergency phase (June 2020-March2021) | 38.7 |
  Post-emergency phase (April 2021-November 2021) | 61.3 |
 Switch to TC from in-presence visits | 51.3 |
 N. TCs before enrolment in the study | 2.2 (1) |
 In-person visits during TC | 35.0 |
 In-person visits during TC due to patient’s request | 12.5 |
 Use of TC for other chronic conditions | 10.0 |
Digital skills and social support | |
 Social support in operating TC platform | 55.0 |
 IT skills | |
  Excellent/good | 42.5 |
  Mediocre | 35.0 |
  Very poor | 22.5 |