Zoledronic Acid for Osteoporosis in the Elderly

Exclusion Criteria

• •Children will be excluded because they are not frail, institutionalized elders.
• •Men will be excluded because they do not become postmenopausal and are less likely to become osteoporotic.
• •We will exclude institutionalized women with subacute illnesses who are not expected to survive or who will be discharged in less than 2 years.
• •We will also exclude patient with a contraindication to bisphosphonate, such as hypocalcemia, allergy, pervious adverse event (excluding gastrointestinal disorders), or currently on an oral bisphosphonate.
• •We will exclude patients with a calculated creatinine clearance of \< 30 ml/mm.
• •We will exclude women scheduled for or in need of a tooth extraction as this procedure has been associated with osteonecrosis of the jaw in patients with cancer given multiple coursed of high dose intravenous bisphosphonates.
• •We will screen for these conditions by detailed history, physical exam (including dental exam), chart review, and baseline laboratory analyses, including BUN/creatinine, liver function tests, TSH, calcium, PTH, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, alkaline phosphatase and baseline calculated creatinine clearance. Participants with vitamin D levels \< 20 ng/ml will be treated with vitamin D 50,000 IU/wk for 8 weeks in addition to calcium. Vitamin D will be rechecked and the patient will be enrolled if the vitamin D level is \> 20 ng/ml.
• •Patients will be allowed to continue on certain medications known to affect bone and mineral metabolism (e.g. glucocorticoids, anticonvulsants) because their use is common in this population. (In our facilities, 2.9% of patients use glucocorticoids and 7.2% use anti-epileptic drugs.) In addition, women who have been treated in the past or present with osteoporosis agents, such as estrogen/progesterone, raloxifene, and calcitonin, will be allowed to participate and continue on these therapies if prescribed by their physician. However, if patients are currently on or have been on bisphosphonates for greater than 1 year in the previous 2 years prior to enrollment, they will be excluded as some bisphosphonates are long acting.
• •Patients will be allowed to wear hip pads if prescribed by their physician. If they are on parathyroid hormone, they may participate, but will be told that monotherapy with parathyroid hormone is more beneficial than combination therapy with parathyroid hormone and alendronate, as we have previously demonstrated.