A randomized clinical trial on improving osteopenia in postmenopausal women after two years of preventive treatment with alendronate; a dose of 35 mg per week is more effective or a dose of 70 mg?

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Introduction: Osteoporosis is the most common metabolic bone disease worldwide. In this disease, the bone mass decreases and as it progresses, the risk of fracture increases. Osteopenia occurs in the early stages of bone loss. Studies on the effective dose for treatment of osteopenia have been controversial. Objectives: In this randomized clinical trial, low doses versus high doses of alendronate were assessed during the osteopenic stage in postmenopausal women. Patients and Methods: The present study is a randomized clinical trial (RCT) that was performed on 152 postmenopausal women who were visited in Al-Zahra rheumatology clinic between 2016 and 2017. Patients were randomly divided into two groups. The first group with 35 and the second group with 70 mg of weekly alendronate were treated and followed for two years. Densitometry was performed on patients before and 2 years after the intervention, and the findings were compared. Results: The two groups were not significantly different in terms of age, gender, height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and menopause (P>0.05). The bone mineral density (BMD) findings of both groups, including Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) hip and vertebra/wrist, T-score hip and vertebrae, as well as Z-score hip and vertebrae, improved significantly after two years (P<0.001), However, a comparison of the two therapeutic doses did not show a significant difference in terms of BMD improvements (P>0.05). Conclusion: The findings of this study reported favorable results for the preventive treatment of alendronate in osteopenic women. In addition, due to gastrointestinal problems that are the main complaint of alendronate use, according to the results, a weekly dose of 35 mg can be recommended