Persistence is key to preserving bone health

The complex instructions for osteoporosis medicines might stand in the way of adherence to these powerful bone builders.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. April 4, 2005.

Washington -- There are effective medications and practices to prevent bone loss, but physicians face a tough battle convincing patients to stay with them over the long haul.

"Women continue to put themselves at risk for fractures that can lead to pain, physical disability, loss of independence and even premature death by stopping osteoporosis treatment too soon," said Sydney L. Bonnick, MD, medical director of the Clinical Research Center of North Texas in Denton, Texas.

A national telephone survey revealed that as many as two-thirds of women participants who have postmenopausal osteoporosis discontinued their medication within one year. The survey was conducted between Dec. 14, 2004, and Jan. 5, 2005, by the Alliance for Aging Research and Opinion Research Corp. Support was provided by GlaxoSmithKline and Roche, which market a bone-strengthening medication.

Each year, about 1.5 million people have an osteoporosis-related fracture, said a surgeon general's report last fall. Although patients with osteoporosis can include children with birth defects and middle-aged men on certain medications, 80% of those affected by the disease are women, particularly postmenopausal women.

And compliance with treatment is not the only concern facing physicians. They must first convince patients that they are indeed at risk for osteoporatic fractures, said Laura Tosi, MD, chair of the Dept. of Orthopedic Surgery at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.