Osteoporosis News:

Study: Many Postmenopausal Women With Osteoporosis Do Not Stay With Treatment

Many women with postmenopausal osteoporosis who are treated with the most commonly prescribed osteoporosis medications, bisphosphonates, do not stay with the treatments or take them as directed, according to a study presented October 6 at the annual meeting of the North American Menopause Society in Washington, D.C.

Although adherence was better with once weekly oral doses rather than daily oral doses of bisphosphonates, it was still inadequate for both dosage regimens, according to another study presented at the same meeting.

Researchers say the findings are a major concern because poor adherence with osteoporosis therapy results in less gains in bone mineral density and increased risk for bone fractures.

"Osteoporosis is a chronic condition that requires patients to take their medication as directed over the long term to get the full benefit," said lead researcher Joyce Cramer, of the Yale University School of Medicine.

Cramer said many patients do not adhere to bisphosphonate therapy partly because osteoporosis is a long-term condition that often has no symptoms with patients seeing no obvious evidence of the disease, unless they experience a bone fracture.

Additionally, the studies found that many women don't stay with current oral bisphosphonate therapies because of their strict dosing guidelines, including remaining upright and not eating, drinking or taking other medications for a period of time after the bisphosphonate therapy is taken.

One of the studies presented, showed that only 30 percent and 14 percent of women new to weekly or daily oral bisphosphonate therapy, respectively, had prescriptions filled covering about three-fourths of the year.

Another study showed that weekly bisphosphonate users had better adherence than daily bisphosphonate users, but rates were still inadequate for both dosing regimens. At the end of 12 months, more women taking once-weekly compared to once-daily bisphosphonates persisted with their therapy (44.2 percent vs. 31.7 percent, respectively).

"These findings suggest that less frequent dosing improves adherence with bisphosphonates. However, adherence with even once-weekly dosing is still suboptimal, so other dosing regimens should be explored," she said.

Source: Medical Week staff, week of October 9, 2004