Vitamins, minerals and supplements in the news
August 2010 - Are women getting the brittle bone drugs they need?
A recent article in the daily mail suggests that women are being denied vital treatment due to cost leaving many osteopenia sufferers untreated
A recent article in the daily mail suggests that women are being denied vital treatment due to cost leaving many osteopenia sufferers untreated.
Osteopenia isn’t quite osteperosis but is often the precursor and leaves sufferers susceptible to fractures and broken bones. Experts believe the number of people affected by osteopenia are in the millions.
Bone is constantly being renewed and repaired; it's broken down by cells called osteoclasts and replaced by bone-building cells called osteoblasts.
However, this process slows down as you get older - from 35, the cells that break down the bone are more active than the ones that build it - leading to osteopenia and an increased risk of fractures.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommends Alendronate, one of a group of drugs known as bisphosphonates as a possible solution. It slows down the bone-thinning process by targeting and killing the osteoclasts. However, Alendronate isn’t suitable for everyone. One in four people prescribed it suffer from dizziness, nausea and vomiting.
Meanwhile, the alternatives to bisphosphonates cost from £300 to £3,000 a year.
Doctors are unable/unwilling to meet the cost of prescribing alternative drugs to all. Alternatives such as Raloxifene and Protelos are only prescribed to the select few such as those susceptible to spinal fractures leaving many simply untreated.
Claire Severgnini, chief executive of the National Osteoporosis Society, says: 'The NICE guidance is inflexible and unethical. It leaves clinicians with limited options to treat a condition that leads to 300,000 fractures a year. These cost £2 billion a year for hip fractures alone, yet we put little money into preventing those fractures from occurring in the first place.
'But there are cost- effective osteoporosis treatments available. Patients need to be treated with the therapy that best meets their needs.'
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