Risk reduction of falls and fractures, reduction of back pain and safety in elderly high risk patients receiving combined therapy with alfacalcidol and alendronate: a prospective study

Abstract

Efficacy and safety of a new combination package containing 4 or 12 self-explanatory one-week blisters, each with one tablet of 70 mg alendronate (CAS 260055-05-8) and 7 capsules of 1 μg alfacalcidol (CAS 41294-56-8) (Tevabone®) on muscle power, muscle function, balance and back pain was investigated in an open, multi-centered, uncontrolled, prospective study on a cohort of elderly patients with a high risk of falls and fractures. 818 practicing physicians all over Germany recruited 2579 patients for a 3-month observational trial being treated with the above combination package. 92.4% were women [89.7% of the women had postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMO)]. Their average age was 74.1 years and the mean body mass index 26.4 kg/m². 55.4% had a history of falls. Prevalent vertebral and non-vertebral fractures were documented in 62.9% and 61.4% of the patients, respectively, and a creatinine clearance below 65 ml/min was documented in 65.5%. Main outcome parameters were the Chair Rising Test (CRT), Timed Up and Go Test (TUG), back pain and safety at onset and after 3 months. In addition an evaluation of the package design was done at the end of the study.

The percentage of patients able to perform the CRT within 10 sec increased from 26.3% to 42.9% after 3 months (increase 63%, p < 0.0001), while successful performance within 10 sec of TUG increased by 54% (p < 0.0001) from 30.6% at onset to 47.1% after 3 months. The average overall improvement of CRT was 2.3 sec (p < 0.0001) and of TUG amounted to 2.4 sec (p < 0.0001). It was shown in another recently published study that a mean increase of 2.6 sec in the performance of TUG results in a 24% increased risk for non-vertebral fractures. Mean back pain measured by a 0-10 visual analogue scale decreased significantly by 41% from 5.9 to 3.5 (p < 0.0001).

Throughout the study, 178 adverse events (AE) were reported in 85 of the 2579 patients (incidence: 3.3%). Only 3 patients experienced serious AE, 2 without causal relationship to the new combination pack. Patients using the new combined regimen of alfacalcidol plus alendronate achieved significant improvement in CRT, TUG and back pain already after 3 months, with a high safety profile and good compliance. This may contribute to the previously shown significant effect on reducing falls and fractures with the same regimen during a controlled long-term trial. The same trend was found in all mentioned efficacy parameters and no different trend in safety in the large subgroup of 2106 women with documented PMO.

Key words

Alendronate - Alfacalcidol - Back pain - Elderly - Falls - Fractures - Muscle - Osteoporosis

• References

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