Alendronate has been proven to be an effective treatment for children with secondary osteoporosis, that is, osteoporosis as a complication of another disease in this case, connective tissue disease. Maria Luisa Bianchi, M.D., of the Istituto Auxologico Italiano in Milan, Italy, reported these findings today at the 22 nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. While osteoporosis is most commonly known as a disease affecting post-menopausal women, young people and children also are affected, particularly those with certain chronic diseases.
Osteoporosis leads to a high risk of fractures.
Children affected by osteoporosis suffer fragility fractures, such as crushed vertebrae, at an early age. Most often, chronic pain and reduced mobility follow. All of the patients received the alendronate for one year. Those patients with a BMD increase of less than 5 percent remained on the therapy for a second year, while the remaining patients were followed for the second year without receiving additional treatment. The average BMD increase for those patients who received treatment for two years was 3.8 percent for the first year and an additional 9.6 percent in the second year of therapy.