The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 274 No 7354 p752
18 June 2005

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

  Acrobat Reader

News summary

Patients confused about bisphosphonate therapy

One in three women with osteoporosis does not understand why she has been prescribed bisphosphonates, according to a recent survey, which also showed that just over half had not been told they would need to take the drugs on a long-term basis.

The international survey of 502 women (aged over 60 years and including 100 from the UK) with post-menopausal osteoporosis who had been prescribed bisphosphonates found that 34 per cent did not know how the drugs might help their condition. In addition, 51 per cent said they had never been told for how long they would need to take them. More than one-quarter of the women (27 per cent) thought their fracture risk was the same, regardless of whether or not they took bisphosphonates.

An accompanying survey of 500 GPs and rheumatologists found that they overestimated adherence, believing that 75 per cent of patients on bisphosphonates were still taking them after one year, when the actual figure is much lower, at around 30 per cent.

Further results from the survey showed that two-thirds (67 per cent) of patients considered that positive outcomes of treatment provided the greatest motivation. However, doctors tended to focus on negative motivators, with nearly half (46 per cent) of UK doctors opting for emphasising the risks and complications of fracture associated with stopping treatment as the best motivator. The survey was carried out by the International Osteoporosis Foundation with an educational grant from Roche and GlaxoSmithKline and presented at the European League Against Rheumatism conference in Vienna last week.

Alun Cooper, a GP in Crawley and scientific adviser to the National Osteoporosis Society, said: “Long-term adherence is particularly poor in osteoporosis. This is a major problem because women won’t benefit from osteoporosis drugs unless they keep taking them.” He added: “The whole primary health care team — including pharmacists — has a major role in improving patient understanding of the benefits of treatment and need for long-term therapy in osteoporosis.”