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Alendronate And Osteopenia and Osteoporosis
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G Guaraldi and an Itlaian research group reported on a small study at the 11th Retrovirus Conference (Feb 2004) examining the effect of alendronate on bone loss in HIV.
Osteopenia and osteoporosis are frequent complications of HIV infection and may be related with low trauma fractures. Gender differences, with an increasedprevalence of osteoporosis in male patients, have been observed. The investigators initiated a 104-week prospective, randomized, open-label study to evaluate the effects of alendronate, vitamin D, and calcium supplementation on bone metabolism and bone mineral density in patients with HIV infection. Interim analysis at 52 weeks is presented
The study randomized 41 subjects on HAART with lumbar spine bone mineral density t-scores <-1.0, to receive 70 mg of alendronate (n = 18) or not (n = 23) weekly. All subjects received supplementation of calcium (1000 mg daily) and vitamin D (500 IU daily). T-test statistic was performed.
RESULTS
As you see by comparing lumbar spine & femoral bone density at baseline and week 52 there was no difference, although the authors said there was a benefit in the program book abstract. This could be due to the small number of patients in the study and perhaps a longer follow-=up time is needed. Additional results are in table below. Two fractures due to minimal trauma in each group were observed (3 fractures of the wrist and 1 of the clavicle).
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