Menopause bone drug increase risk of fracture
Women close to the menopause should think twice about taking a class of drug that is supposed to protect against osteoporosis and fracture. A new study has this week confirmed that the drugs dramatically increase the risk.
The drugs – bisphosphonates – cause ‘fatigue fractures’, and the risk disappears within a year of stopping the medication.
The risk has been suspected for several years, but was confirmed only this week when researchers analysed the results of a study involving 12,777 women aged 55 years and older. Of these, 59 had suffered a ‘fatigue fracture’, and 46 of these were taking a bisphosphonate at the time.
(Source: New England Journal of Medicine, 2011; 364: 1728).