Raloxifene hikes bone density in women.The drug raloxifene came on the market last year, prescribed mainly to counteract osteoporosis osteoporosis (ŏs'tēō'pərō`sĭs), disorder in which the normal replenishment of old bone tissue is severely disrupted, resulting in weakened bones and increased risk of fracture; osteopenia , or brittle-bone disease. Approved for use because tests had indicated that it inhibits bone loss, raloxifene nevertheless had not been shown to actually prevent fractures. Now, researchers report that raloxifene increases bone density of postmenopausal post·men·o·paus·al adj. Of or occurring in the time following menopause. postmenopausal Change of life Gynecology adjective Referring to the time in ♀ when menstrual periods stop for ≥ 1 yr women and reduces their risk of backbone fractures by nearly half. Two-thirds of 7,705 women with osteoporosis, average age 67, received raloxifene over 3 years. The rest took an inert pill. Of women getting the drug, less than 6 percent suffered fractures of the vertebrae Vertebrae Bones in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar regions of the body that make up the vertebral column. Vertebrae have a central foramen (hole), and their superposition makes up the vertebral canal that encloses the spinal cord. , compared with 10 percent in the other group. The raloxifene group showed fewer ankle breaks, but the number of other fractures in the body wasn't significantly different between the groups, the researchers report in the Aug. 18 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association is an international peer-reviewed general medical journal, published 48 times per year by the American Medical Association. JAMA is the most widely circulated medical journal in the world. . On average, bone density rose 2 to 3 percent in the raloxifene group during the study, says coauthor Bruce Ettinger of the Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care organization, based in Oakland, California, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney R. Garfield. Medical Care Program in Oakland, Calif. The findings add to raloxifene's growing status. Earlier this summer, data from the same study showed that the drug lowers the risk of breast cancer (SN: 6/19/99, p. 388). |
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