Bone turnover in osteoporotic women during long-term oral bisphosphonates treatment: Implications for treatment failure and "drug holiday" in the real world

Objective: Little data exist to support concerns over bone turnover suppression during prolonged oral bisphosphonate treatment and on consequences of the recommended "drug holiday." This study was performed to assess bone resorption rates in postmenopausal osteoporotic women on prolonged oral bisphosphonate treatment and in response to switching to "drug holiday" intravenous bisphosphonate, or continuation of oral bisphosphonates. Methods: The frequency distribution of the bone resorption marker urinary deoxypyridinoline crosslinks (uDPD), was obtained retrospectively from 211 osteoporotic women attended at an academic hospital endocrine clinic, treated for >2 years with oral bisphosphonates. In some patients, uDPD was re-assessed following modification or continuation of treatment. Results: The mean duration of oral bisphosphonates treatment was 7.2 ± 3.1 years. uDPD was within reference range for premenopausal women in 61.6% of the patients, below in 7.6% of the patients, and above upper limit in 30.8%. uDPD decreased significantly following intravenous zoledronic acid, increased significantly during "drug holiday," and slightly decreased in those continued on oral bisphosphonate treatment. Conclusion: In this real-world study, the majority of women on prolonged oral bisphosphonates maintained bone resorption rates within the normal reference range for premenopausal women. The likelihood for inadequate suppression was considerably greater than that of oversuppression. Implementing a "drug holiday" resulted in a marked increase in bone resorption rates. Additional studies should explore the potential role of bone turnover markers in the evaluation of patients on prolonged oral bisphosphonates and during "drug holiday" in different settings and using additional markers.