Drug Holidays in the Treatment With Alendronate in Postmenopausal Women With Osteoporosis

Drug Holidays in the Treatment With Alendronate in Postmenopausal Women With Osteoporosis

The purpose of this study is to determine the duration of the treatment with alendronate in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.

The duration of the treatment with alendronate is not well established. The investigators recruited 228 women with postmenopausal osteoporosis. They all received alendronate during the first 3 years of monitoring and were later on randomized to whether different regimens of intermittent treatment or to carry on 3 years more.

Inclusion Criteria:

• postmenopausal osteoporosis under densitometric criteria of the World Health Organization

Exclusion Criteria:

• secondary osteoporosis
• alteration in analytic parameters (total proteins, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D, parathyroid hormone, thyroid hormone, transaminase, creatinine)