Two Years of Alendronate and Calcitonin Treatments for Osteoporosis in Postmenopausal Women - Original Investigation

Abstract

This study was to compare and research the effects of alendronate and calcitonin treatments with 2 years duration in women with postmenopausal osteoporosis. One hundred and ten women with postmenopausal osteoporosis (calcitonin group: 55 subjects, alendronate group:55 subjects) were enrolled in this study. Patients were divided into two groups randomly. While alendronate at one dose of 70 mgr weekly was administered to one group, calcitonin at one dose of 200IU daily was gived to another group. Bone mineral density (BMD) was measured at the proximal femur and lumbar spine three times as before treatment, first and second year. Significant improvement was found at the end of treatment in groups itself by lumbar spine and femur BMD. A significant more improvement was determined at the alendronate group than calcitonin group (p=0.001) in the lumbar spine. Statistically a difference was not found in other comparisons among these groups. In the conclusion, alendronate and calcitonin in the treatment of post menopausal osteoporosis by 2 years produced increasing in BMD of the lumbar spine and femur. However, alendronate treatment was found more effective than calcitonin treatment in the lumbar spine. (Osteoporoz Dünyasından 2006; 12 (1): 5-8)

Keywords

• Osteoporosis
• alendronate
• calcitonin