Compliance with alendronate 10 treatment in elderly women with postmenopausal osteoporosis

It has been shown that more than 50% of people with a chronic disease, including osteoporosis, discontinue treatment during its first year. This problem increases with the time of observation. The aim of this study was to assess alendronate compliance over a period of 6 or 18 months in clinical practice of postmenopausal osteoporosis.

Using a retrospective study of clinical histories (357) obtained in our Outpatient Clinic, as well as telephone interviews with patients, the compliance with alendronate therapy in postmenopausal patients was assessed.

After 1.5 years on observation 20.4% of patients, and after 0.5 years 8.5% of patients, discontinued their treatment as a result of intolerance (especially side effects on the gastrointestinal tract) (47.8%), health problems unrelated to osteoporosis (8.7%), inconvenience of the daily regimen (13.1%), costs (4.3%), and improvement of clinical condition (26.1%). It is worth mentioning that in both periods of observation (1.5 and 0.5 years) almost the same percentage of patient discontinued visits at our Outpatient Clinic (15.6% and 14.4%, respectively). Telephone interviews with patients who stopped attending the Outpatient Clinic at the Regional Centre of Menopause and Osteoporosis revealed that more than 50% of them discontinued the treatment.

Not all patients treated with alendronate are compliant. Osteoporosis is a chronic disease, which needs long clinical observation and constant adherence to medication. Effective communication between doctor and patient, and follow-up visits that are more frequent would greatly improve the adherence to osteoporosis treatment modalities. Compliant patients achieved increases in bone mass density with simultaneous fracture risk reduction.