The first osteological seminar was held on 2 February 1970 at the Research Institute of Rheumatic Diseases in Prague. The initiator of these events was assoc.prof. Stanislav Havelka, M.D., who together with a group of other experts subsequently sought to establish an independent osteological society. On the basis of the working group on osteoarthritis, the Osteoarthritis Section of the Czechoslovak Rheumatological Society was established in October 1986. Thanks to its membership in the European Society of Osteoarthrology, it was also a member of EULAR. This section was adopted in 1991 by the European Foundation for Osteoporosis (EFFO) as the only section among the independent professional societies, under the name Section of Metabolic Skeletal Disease, Czechoslovak Society for Rheumatology. As a result of the division of the state, two subsidiary sections – Czech and Slovak – were subsequently created from this section.
The Czech Section sent a proposal to the Board of the Czech Medical Society of Jan Evangelista Purkyně to establish a separate society for metabolic skeletal diseases. The new society was established in May 1995. It was conceived as an explicitly interdisciplinary one. SMOS has been intensively cooperating with the world since the beginning – since the establishment of the International Osteoporosis Foundation it has been a full member of the IOF and has its representatives in its committees – Board of National Societies, Board of Scientific Advisors.
The first chairman of SMOS was prof. Stanislav Havelka, M.D. (in 1995-1997), in November 1997 the then assoc. prof. Vladimír Palička, M.D. was elected as chairman, the vice-chairman was prof. Jaroslav Blahoš, M.D. and the scientific secretary was Milan Bayer, M.D. Many members of the Society’s Committee have not ceased their work even after many years and are still actively involved.
From the beginning, SMOS has been perceived by the professional public as an integrating society for the field of metabolic skeletal diseases and especially osteoporosis, which has become a serious problem for society from the health, social and economic point of view. SMOS participates in the development of standards of care in this field and comments on the current possibilities of diagnosis and therapy of osteoporosis and metabolic skeletal diseases in our country in the framework of treatment algorithms. Representatives of SMOS participate in a number of meetings with the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, health care payers, the Czech Medical Chamber and other professional societies. Thanks to the efforts of the SMOS committee, it has been possible to obtain postgraduate specialization in Clinical Osteology in the Czech Republic since 2011.
The Society´s Committee has a total of thirteen members. Our website can be found at https://smos.cz
Activities:
- general public campaign – through press, TV and radio SMOS tries to continuously raise public awareness about osteoporosis. The increase in the number of osteoporotic fractures in our country is well documented. In the Czech Republic, approximately 72,000 new fragility fractures were sustained in 2010. When adjusting the demographic projections for 2025, the number of incident fractures was estimated at 94,000 in 2025, representing an increase of 21,000 fractures. Approximately 9,300 women and 3,500 men aged over 50 years suffer fractures of the proximal femur every year. The remaining lifetime probability of hip fracture at the ages of 50 years in men and women was estimated to approximately 7 and 15%, respectively. SMOS has initiated a dialogue with official institutions on the possibilities of diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis in our country. However, at present, due to the unfavourable economic situation, it is difficult to obtain money from the government. As in other countries, there are many problems in the health service system. Perhaps this is the reason for the disinterest of political leaders. On the occasion of World Osteoporosis Day, SMOS regularly organises various events. A popular one is the ‘Open Day’ at health centres equipped with bone densitometers. Many people have toured these workplaces, attended lectures, discussed with the medical staff and improved their ability to have their bone mineral density measured.
- medical education – some members of the Society, the main Czech authorities in osteology, have become authors of a number of publications and monographs on osteoporosis. The aim is to improve knowledge and understanding of the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis among general practitioners. SMOS cooperates closely with other Czech and international scientific organisations. It is trying to promote the implementation of a plan to create a network of osteological outpatient clinics and osteological centres throughout the Czech Republic. So far we have been only partially successful. The SMOS Committee has published and is updating a number of Recommended Practices, e.g., Rosa J, Palicka V., Byma S. Osteoporóza: Doporučené diagnostické a terapeutické postupy pro všeobecné praktické lékaře. Novelizace 2018. Praha: Společnost Všeobecného Lékařství ČLS JEP. Knowledge of most risk factors for OP was relatively high and much better than in 2007, probably due to educational activities targeted at GPs and the updated guidelines, for example: Vytrisalova M, Touskova T, Fuksa L, Karascak R, Palicka V, Byma S, Stepan J. How General Practitioners and Their Patients Adhere to Osteoporosis Management: A Follow-Up Survey among Czech General Practitioners.Front Pharmacol. 2017 May 11;8:258. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2017.00258.
- scientific journal – SMOS has been publishing its own scientific journal Osteological Bulletin since 1996. The main topics of published papers were the issues of diagnosis and treatment of metabolic bone diseases. The journal was published quarterly since 1996 with a circulation of about 2000 copies. The costs were covered by advertising and the journal was available free of charge to SMOS members. Deteriorating economic conditions led in 2017 to the transformation into the journal Clinical Osteology, published by SMOS together with the Slovak osteological society (SOMOK).
- Symposia and congresses – The first conference “Osteoporosis Therapy” with international participation was organized in Prague in April 1996. In the very next year after its establishment, SMOS co-organized a symposium on osteoporosis in Piešt’any (Slovak Republic) and then in Prague, where it also provided an autumn densitometry course. It also participated in the organization of the popular PIPERS (Prague International Pediatric Rheumatology Symposium). Already in three quarters of a year after its foundation SMOS had 144 members and more were added. After strengthening contacts with Slovak colleagues, it was agreed to organize osteological congresses with international participation alternately in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The 25th joint congress was held now in September 2022. We also started the tradition of the National Conference on Secondary Osteoporosis, which we prepare in Pilsen every two years. This year it was held for the 14th time.
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Prof. S. Havelka Prof. J. Blahoš