[Monthly ibandronate attachment to Mexican and Chilean women with osteoporosis, with or without a biofeedback...

Osteoporosis affects 1 in 3 postmenopausal women and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The utility of bisphosphonates is often affected by lack of attachment and acceptance of treatment.

To analyze the impact of biofeedback in the adherence to once-monthly oral ibandronate treatment.

We designed an open-label, prospective, randomized, multicenter clinical study to investigate the impact of biofeedback with bone turnover markers on adherence to once-monthly oral ibandronate treatment in 781 Mexican and Chilean patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis (BOHEMIA study). They were enrolled at 25 centers in Mexico (700 patients) and 24 centers in Chile (81 patients). All patients received once-monthly oral ibandronate 150 mg for 6 months. Patients without previous bisphosphonate treatment, previous bisphosphonate users, or current bisphosphonate users were included. Patients were randomly divided into two arms at baseline, either to receive biofeedback or not.

A statistically significant improvement in adherence was found in patients who received biofeedback when compared with those who did not (98.8 to 99.8% [95% CI] and 95.5 to 97.5%, respectively [p < 0.001]).

Even though biofeedback with bone turnover markers was associated with a significantly greater adherence, it was not great enough to recommend biofeedback as a strategy to achieve optimal adherence. Once-monthly ibandronate by itself can achieve an adequate therapeutic adherence.