Study suggests that this
treatment can prevent debilitating fractures
by Marilynn Marchione,
Associated Press , October 2, 2018
A bone-strengthening
drug given by IV every 18 months greatly lowered the risk of fracture in
certain older women, a large study has found. The results suggest these
medicines might help more people than those who get them now and can be used
less often, too.
Broken bones are a scourge of aging. A
hip fracture can start a long decline that lands someone in a nursing home. The
risk is most common in women after menopause.
But who should use
drugs called bisphosphonates is debatable. They're recommended for people with
severely brittle bones, called osteoporosis, but their value is less clear
for millions of others with moderate bone loss.
Yet “that's the group
in whom 80 percent of fractures occur,” and the new results suggest they also
may benefit from treatment, said Ian Reid, M.D., of the University of Auckland
in New Zealand. He led the study, reported at an American Society for Bone and
Mineral Research meeting in Montreal and published by the New England
Journal of Medicine.
The study involved
2,000 women, average age 71, with moderate bone loss. One quarter had
previously had a fracture. They were assigned to get a Novartis drug, sold as
Reclast in the United States and Aclasta elsewhere, or a placebo IV solution
every 18 months.
After six years 122
women in the drug group had broken a bone versus 190 of those on a placebo — a
37 percent lowered risk. The drug also cut in half the risk of a vertebral
fracture, when bone compression causes part of the spine to collapse.
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