Osteoporosis monitoring 'a waste of time'

Published on Tuesday 23 June 2009 22:52

MONITORING bone density in older women taking osteoporosis drugs is a waste of time and money, scientists have claimed.

The bone disease is a major problem for older women in particular, because bone density falls as oestrogen levels dwindle during the menopause.

Some guidelines say postmenopausal women's bone density should be monitored, although experts have questioned whether the costly process can really show how a patient is responding to treatment by osteoporosis drugs.

Now researchers in Australia and the US have found that 97.5 per cent of those treated with the widely used drug alendronate showed at least a "modest" increase in their bone mineral density – and this effect did not vary much between individuals.

In a paper published by the British Medical Journal, the scientists said this made monitoring individuals' response to treatment unnecessary.