THURSDAY, Aug. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Alendronate (Fosamax) may be more effective than alfacalcidol at staving off steroid-induced bone loss among patients with rheumatic diseases, according to the results of a double-blind study published in the Aug. 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Ron N.J. de Nijs, M.D., Ph.D., of the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, and colleagues followed patients who began taking glucocorticoids at a daily dose equivalent to at least 7.5 milligrams of prednisone for 18 months. Patients were randomized to receive 10 mg of alendronate and a placebo capsule of alfacalcidol daily or 1 microgram of alfacalcidol and a placebo tablet of alendronate daily.
Patients taking alendronate showed a 2.1 percent increase in spinal bone mineral density (BMD). By contrast, spine BMD decreased by 1.9 percent in the alfacalcidol group. Between the groups, there was a 4 percent difference in BMD of the lumbar spine at 18 months, which favored those patients taking alendronate. Similar results were seen in the femoral neck and total hip, the report indicates.
"Alendronate may inhibit bone loss in glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis more effectively than does alfacalcidol," the study authors conclude.
Merck provided the alendronate and placebo tablets and Teva Pharmaceuticals provided alfacalcidol and placebo capsules, but the study was funded by the Dutch Health Care Insurance Board.
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