Faulty Fosamax.

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Women who take Fosamax to reduce their future risk of osteoporosis be warned: you are at increased risk for atrial fibrillation, a heart condition that increases strokes.

Researchers compared more than 700 women with atrial fibrillation and found that those who had taken alendronate--the generic name for Fosamax--had an 86 percent higher risk of atrial fibrillation. The study's author, Dr. Susan Heckbert, published the results this spring in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

It's the second drug in its class to be associated with atrial fibrillation, after zoledronic acid, or Reclast. Three million prescriptions for alendronate were dispensed in Canada last year.