Seattle study ties bone drug Fosamax to heart problem

Seattle study ties bone drug Fosamax to heart problem
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Another research study has found a possible connection between the
bone-building drug Fosamax and irregular heart rhythms.

The study of the health records of 1,700 elderly women who were
patients at Seattle's Group Health Cooperative found that the women
who were taking the Merck & Co. drug had significantly increased odds
of developing atrial fibrillation.

The condition can result in rapid and irregular heartbeat that can
create clots and lead to strokes or cause shortness of breath and
fatigue.

Two studies last year also found a possible connection between Fosamax
and another bone-building drug, Reclast, made by Novartis AG, and
irregular heartbeat problems.

"This is going to be an important study for physicians to be aware
of," said Dr. Philip Mease, an osteoporosis expert at Swedish Medical
Center in Seattle and a clinical professor of rheumatology at the
University of Washington. Mease was not involved with the study.

Mease stressed, however, that the study of Fosamax, which is
generically known as alendronate, turned up only an association not
proof that it causes atrial fibrillation. The generic version of the
drug became available in February. Mease warned patients taking
Fosamax not to quit on their own.

"I'm concerned about the news leading to mass cessation" of the drug,
Mease said, because it could lead to an increase in deaths from bone
fractures.

The researchers at Group Health compared the health records of 719
women who had been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation at Group Health
between 2001 and 2004 against those of 966 women who had never had the
condition.

Among the atrial-fibrillation patients, 6.5 percent had taken Fosamax,
compared with 4.1 percent in the other group. Researchers calculated
that women who had taken Fosamax were 86 percent more likely to have
atrial fibrillation than if they had never taken it.

Fosamax users who were diabetic or taking statins to lower cholesterol
were among the most likely to develop irregular heartbeat.

"This adds to the evidence that there may in fact be an association"
between the two, said Dr. Susan Heckbert, the study's first author and
a professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington.

The paper examined only Fosamax, the world's top-selling osteoporosis
drug and the preferred brand for Group Health members. It did not
compare other bone-strengthening drugs in the same class.

The paper appeared Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute paid for the study.