Zoledronate may reduce the risk of developing fragility fractures in older women with osteopenia, according to a study in New England Journal of Medicine.
Here are four things to know:
1. Study authors conducted a six-year, double-blind trial featuring 2,000 women with osteopenia aged 65 or older. Most fractures in postmenopausal women occur in patients with osteopenia.
2. Participants were randomly assigned to receive four infusions of zoledronate at a dose of five milligrams or normal saline at 18-month intervals. The study measured the time to first occurrence of a nonvertebral or vertebral fragility fracture.
3. A fragility fracture occurred in 122 women in the zoledronate group and 190 women in the saline placebo group.
4. Compared to the placebo group, women who received zoledronate had a reduced risk of nonvertebral fragility fractures, symptomatic fractures, vertebral fractures and height loss.