Watch those drug holidays for fracture risk
Experts urge caution with temporarily ceasing bisphosphonate therapy
7th May 2018
Drug holidays for patients with osteoporosis are riskier than previously thought and need further assessment, a team of US endocrinologists argue.

Temporarily ceasing bisphosphonate therapy is often recommended to lower the risk of rare adverse events, such as medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw and atypical femur fracture.
However, a study of 401 patients with osteopenia or osteoporosis who began a bisphosphonate drug holiday found that 15.4% had a bone fracture during the six-year follow-up.
The annual incidence of fractures ranged from 3.7-9.9%,