In the FIT Long Term Extension (FLEX) trial, ten years of alendronate (ALN) did not significantly reduce the risk of non-vertebral fractures (NVF), compared with five years of treatment.
However, continuing ALN reduced the risk of clinical, but not morphometric, vertebral fractures, regardless of baseline vertebral fracture status.
In previous studies, ALN efficacy for NVF prevention in women without prevalent vertebral fracture was limited to those with femoral neck (FN) T-score
In FLEX, women were randomised to placebo (40 per cent) or ALN 5mg/d (30 per cent) or 10mg/d (30 per cent) for an additional five years. Among women without vertebral fracture at FLEX baseline (N = 720), continuation of ALN reduced NVF in women with FLEX baseline FN T-score -2.5 and -2 (RR 1.41; 95% CI 0.75-2.66) (p for interaction 0.019).
Continuing alendronate for ten years instead of stopping after five years thus reduces non-vertebral fracture risk in women without prevalent vertebral fracture whose FN T-score, achieved after five years of ALN, is -2.
J Bone Miner Res. 2010 Jan 8
About Greg Baxter
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