Adherence to alendronate in male veterans

Abstract

Alendronate non-adherence is more likely in male veterans who smoke or report side effects, and less likely in men having bone densitometry during therapy. Providers urgently need programs to increase adherence to osteoporosis medications. Initial programs should target patients with risk factors for non-adherence.

Differences in persistence among different weekly oral bisphosphonate medications

“…Furthermore, the persistence with the generic formulations of alendronate appeared to be clinically and statistically lower than that of branded alendronate and branded risedronate. This findings are consistent with previous studies [27][28][29][30]. This important decrease in persistence to the generic formulations of alendronate could be due to the physicochemical characteristics of the generic tablets or to the characteristics of the patients to whom generics were dispensed.…”

The relationship between bisphosphonate use and demographic characteristics of male osteoporosis patients

“…Although Hansen's study 17 is not directly comparable to ours, when the 1-year results were compared with those of our study, factors such as alcohol consumption, fracture history and additional medications did not affect compliance during a 1-year treatment period; although, medication compliance did decrease by 50% over the 1-year treatment period.…”

“…Although the smoking rate was 53.9% in our study, the same rate was 33% in the study by Hansen et al 17 This difference may be due to the differences in the study groups and health policies of the respective countries. The study by Hansen et al 17 was performed among United States veterans and we believe that this difference may reflect the lower rates of smokers in the U.S. as compared with Turkey or the higher educational status of those individuals compared with the participants in our study.…”

“…In addition, despite the results of Hansen et al 17 that indicate that the presence of side effects from the medication are effective indicators, the results of these two studies cannot be compared because the current study aimed only to evaluate whether or not certain demographic characteristics of patients were associated with medication persistence and compliance. However, we did not evaluate medication side effects in the current study.…”

“…Hansen et al 17 studied 198 males with OP and examined age, race, body weight, smoking and alcohol habits, fracture history, additional medications and the presence of side effects related to the medication. They reported that compliance was better in the younger patients (mean age of 69) and in the non-smokers after 1 year of medication use.…”