Alendronate: three in one
Osteoporosis Medicine May Improve Heart Health
Vladimir Mirny, Naked Science
In the treatment of patients with hip fractures, doctors found a link between Alendronate, a drug for osteoporosis, and a reduced risk of death from cardiovascular diseases, heart attack and stroke, which was traced up to 10 years after the fracture. The material is published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research (Sing et al., Association of Alendronate and Risk of Cardiovascular Events in Patients With Hip Fracture).
Until the end of 2016, specialists monitored people who had a hip fracture in the period from 2005 to 2013: 4,602 patients (13%) out of 34,991 were treated for osteoporosis at the same time.
The effect of Alendronate was associated with a 67% and 45% reduction in the risk of death from cardiovascular diseases and heart attack during the year, respectively. He also reduced the likelihood of stroke by 18% over five years and by 17% over ten years. With a different method of treating osteoporosis, no protective effects were found.
"It is known that the treatment of osteoporosis around the world is greatly complicated by the awareness of patients about its incredibly rare side effects," says the author of the work, Dr. Ching–Lung Chung from the University of Hong Kong. – Our data show that Alendronate has potentially cardioprotective properties in patients with hip fracture. Thus, doctors should take into account the prescriptions of Alendronate or other nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates for patients with a hip fracture shortly after receiving it, and those, in turn, should not resist treatment with Alendronate, since it is useful not only for bones, but also for the heart."
In addition, the study had a serious impact on clinical trials of drugs for osteoporosis. The US FDA recently requested more data to make a decision on the approval (or disapproval) of Romosozumab, a drug for osteoporosis. This drug was found to have an excessive side effect on the cardiovascular system, when compared with Alendronate.
"In light of these important discussions, our results suggest that such a difference in side effects on the cardiovascular system may be due to protective associations around Alendronate, rather than an increase in those when using Romosozumab," Dr. Chung concluded.
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