Trial finds risedronate is useful in protecting Parkinson's patients from hip fracture

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

The drug risedronate is helpful in reducing the risk of hip fractures in patients with Parkinson's disease.
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There is a high incidence of hip fractures among patients who have Parkinson's disease. So it makes sense to try to protect them with the drugs that are used to prevent or treat osteoporosis - namely, risedronate and alendronate. In a new study, researchers in Japan gave either risedronate and vitamin D2 or placebo and vitamin D2 to a group of 242 elderly men with Parkinson's disease.

They found that the men on risedronate were three times less likely to sustain a hip fracture than those on placebo. Moreover, their bone mineral density was increased by 2.2 per cent, while it decreased by nearly three per cent in the placebo group. Before the study, the men were experiencing a rapid rate of bone loss, because of inactivity. Risedronate controls the progression of osteoporosis in Parkinson's disease patients, say the researchers. It also seems to do this more effectively than alendronate, which has been used in previous trials with women who have Parkinson's disease.

Source
Neurology March 2007