Suppression of bone turnover by bisphosphonates is associated with increased bone microdamage accumulation in animal models. Our objective was to study the effects of teriparatide treatment on ...changes in microdamage accumulation at the iliac crest in previously treatment‐naïve patients or in those switched from alendronate to teriparatide. Sixty‐six postmenopausal women with osteoporosis (mean age, 68.0 yr; and mean BMD T‐score of −2.8 at lumbar spine and −1.7 at total hip; 62% with prevalent fractures) entered this prospective, nonrandomized study and started with 24‐mo 20 μg/d subcutaneous teriparatide treatment in monotherapy: 38 patients stopped previous alendronate treatment (10 mg/d or 70 mg/wk for a mean duration of 63.6 mo) and switched to teriparatide, whereas 28 were previously treatment naïve. Thirty‐one paired biopsies with two intact cortices were collected and analyzed for microstructure and microdamage accumulation at baseline and after 24 mo of teriparatide administration. After 24 mo of teriparatide treatment, crack density (Cr.Dn), crack surface density (Cr.S.Dn), and crack length (Cr.Le) were decreased in previously alendronate‐treated patients, whereas only Cr.Le was reduced in former treatment‐naïve patients. Patients with lower initial femoral neck BMD also showed a higher reduction of microdamage accumulation. Better bone microarchitecture correlated positively, whereas bone turnover markers and age did not correlate with reduced microdamage accumulation on teriparatide. In conclusion, teriparatide reduces microdamage accumulation in the iliac crest of patients previously treated with alendronate. There is insufficient evidence to suggest that age or bone turnover would be associated with this change.
Objective: To investigate the efficacy, safety, and dose response of three doses of ibandronate, given intermittently by intravenous (IV) injection every three months, in preventing postmenopausal ...osteoporosis. Patients and methods: 629 postmenopausal women, categorised according to time since menopause and baseline lumbar spine (L1–4) bone mineral density (BMD), were enrolled into a multicentre, double blind, placebo controlled trial. They were randomly allocated to receive IV ibandronate 0.5 mg, 1 mg or 2 mg, or placebo every three months. All women received daily calcium supplementation. Results: One year’s treatment with intermittent IV ibandronate injections produced a dose dependent gain in mean (SD) lumbar spine BMD from baseline of 2.5 (2.5)%, 1.8 (2.6)%, and 1.0 (2.8)% in the groups receiving 2 mg, 1 mg, and 0.5 mg ibandronate, respectively, compared with a loss of BMD of 0.4 (2.4)% in the women in the placebo group; p=0.0001 for each ibandronate dose v placebo. Highest BMD gains occurred in women with osteopenia receiving 2 mg ibandronate. Similarly, at the hip, all three doses of ibandronate produced significantly better gains in BMD than placebo (p<0.05), with the greatest gains in the women with osteopenia receiving the 2 mg dose. Ibandronate concomitantly and dose dependently suppressed markers of bone turnover in comparison with placebo, and injections were well tolerated. Conclusion: IV ibandronate injections, given every three months, may be an effective alternative to oral bisphosphonates and hormonal therapy in the prevention of bone loss in postmenopausal women.
Summary
The results of the present study, involving analysis of biopsies from patients who received teriparatide for 2 years and were previously either treatment-naïve or on long-term alendronate ...therapy, suggest that prior alendronate use does not blunt the favorable effects of teriparatide on bone quality.
Introduction
Examine the effect of 2 years of teriparatide (TPTD) treatment on mineral and organic matrix properties of the newest formed bone in patients who were previously treatment-naïve (TN) or on long-term alendronate (ALN) therapy.
Methods
Raman and Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopic analyses were used to determine the mineral/matrix (M/M) ratio, the relative proteoglycan (PG) content, and the mineral maturity/crystallinity (MMC; determined by three methods: carbonate content, full width at half height of the
v
1
PO
4
band FWHH, and wavelength at maxima of the
v
1
PO
4
band), as well as collagen maturity (ratio of pyridinoline/divalent cross-links), in paired iliac crest biopsies at trabecular, endosteal, and osteonal surfaces of newly formed bone in postmenopausal osteoporotic women who were previously either TN (
n
= 16) or receiving long-term ALN treatment (
n
= 24).
Results
Trabecular M/M ratio increased and matrix content decreased significantly in the ALN pretreated group. Collagen maturity decreased in both patient groups. Endosteal M/M ratio increased significantly in the TN group. Trabecular M/M ratio was higher at endpoint in the ALN pretreated group than in the TN group. Overall, no changes from baseline were observed in PG content, except that PG content was higher in the ALN pretreated group than in the TN group at endosteal surfaces at endpoint. The ability of TPTD treatment to reduce MMC in both patient groups and at the different bone surfaces depended on the measurement tool (relative carbonate content or wavelength at maxima of the
v
1
PO
4
band). None of the changes in MMC were different between the two patient groups.
Conclusions
The results suggest some favorable impact of TPTD on bone mineral and organic matrix properties of in situ forming bone in terms of increased initial mineralization and decreased MMC and collagen maturity. Moreover, prior long-term ALN administration may have only limited influence on these properties in bone newly formed after 2 years of TPTD treatment.
This randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial evaluated the safety, tolerability and effects on bone mineral density (BMD) of alendronate in a large, multinational population of ...postmenopausal women with low bone mass. At 153 centers in 34 countries, 1908 otherwise healthy, postmenopausal women with lumbar spine BMD 2 standard deviations or more below the premenopausal adult mean were randomly assigned to receive oral alendronate 10 mg (n=950) or placebo (n=958) once daily for 1 year. All patients received 500 mg elemental calcium daily. Baseline characteristics of patients in the two treatment groups were similar. At 12 months, mean increases in BMD were significantly (p≤0.001) greater in the alendronate than the placebo group by 4.9% (95% confidence interval 4.6% to 5.2%) at the lumbar spine, 2.4% (2.0% to 2.8%) at the femoral neck, 3.6% (3.2% to 4.1%) at the trochanter and 3.0% (2.6% to 3.4%) for the total hip. The incidence of nonvertebral fractures was significantly lower in the alendronate than the placebo group (19 vs 37 patients with fractures), representing a 47% risk reduction for nonvertebral fracture for alendronate-treated patients (95% confidence interval 10% to 70%; p= 0.021). Incidences of adverse events, including upper gastrointestinal adverse events, were similar in the two groups. Therefore, for postmenopausal women with low bone mass, alendronate is well tolerated and produces significant, progressive increases in BMD at the lumbar spine and hip in addition to significant reduction in the risk of nonvertebral fracture.PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
We hypothesized that with the administration of teriparatide (TPTD) treatment at different times, we would be able to modify the physiological circadian rhythm of bone turnover.
The concentration of ...serum C-terminal telopeptide of collagen type I (βCTX), serum N-terminal propeptide of procollagen type I (P1NP), serum ionized calcium (iCa), and plasma PTH were measured every 3 h over a 24 h period in 14 postmenopausal osteoporotic women (aged 72.4±9.3 years) treated with 20 μg TPTD for long term, given at different times of the day. General linear model-repeated measurements (GLM RM) were performed to analyze the circadian rhythms as well as intergroup comparisons.
GLM-RM for both related groups showed a significant influence of time of day on all measured variables except P1NP. The analysis for each group separately provided a powerful model for βCTX (P<0.001, η(2)=0.496), serum iCa (P<0.001, η(2)=0.423), plasma PTH (P<0.001, η(2)=0.283), and serum PINP (P<0.001, η(2)=0.248). While the evening TPTD treatment showed a marked circadian rhythm for serum βCTX, the morning TPTD treatment rather suggested circasemidian rhythm. The P1NP rhythm followed a much smaller amplitude of the rhythm than βCTX. Changes in serum iCa were positively related to changes in serum βCTX (P<0.001) and negatively related to changes in PTH (P<0.001).
Timing of TPTD administration may significantly change the 24 h variation in bone turnover markers as well as calcium-parathyroid axis in postmenopausal osteoporotic women.
Vertebral fractures are associated with back pain and disability; however, relatively little is known about the impact of radiographic vertebral fractures on quality of life in population samples. ...The aim of this study was to determine the impact of a recent radiographic vertebral fracture on health-related quality of life (HRQoL).
Men and women aged 50 years and over were recruited from population registers in 12 European centers. Subjects completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire and had lateral spine radiographs performed. Subjects in these centers were followed prospectively and had repeat spinal radiographs performed a mean of 3.8 years later. Prevalent deformities were defined using established morphometric criteria, and incident vertebral fractures by both morphometric criteria and qualitative assessment. For each incident fracture case, three controls matched for age, gender, and center were selected: one with a prevalent deformity (at baseline) and two without prevalent deformities. All subjects were interviewed or completed a postal questionnaire instrument which included Short Form 12 (SF-12), the EQ-5D (former EuroQol), and the quality of life questionnaire of the International Osteoporosis Foundation (QUALEFFO). The median time from the second spinal radiograph until the quality of life survey was 1.9 years. Comparison between cases and their matched controls was undertaken using the signed rank test.
73 subjects with incident vertebral fracture (cases), mean age 64.8 years (of whom 23 had a baseline deformity), and 196 controls, mean age 63.9 years (of whom 60 had a baseline deformity), were studied. There were strong correlations between the domain scores for each of the three instruments. There was no statistically significant difference in any of the domain scores between cases and those controls with a prevalent deformity. However, compared with the controls without a prevalent deformity the cases had significantly impaired quality of life as determined using the total QUALEFFO score (38.2 vs 33.7), the physical component score of the SF-12 (39.9 vs 43.7) and the health status score of the EQ-5D (62.3 vs 69.9). When the analysis was repeated after stratification of the cases by baseline deformity status (i.e., cases with and without a prevalent deformity at baseline), cases with a prevalent deformity had impaired quality of life compared with their matched controls, both with and without a prevalent deformity. In contrast there was no significant difference in quality of life among the cases without a prevalent deformity and either control group.
In this population-based study a recent vertebral fracture was associated with impairment in quality of life, though this was mainly among those who had sustained a previous vertebral deformity.