The largest retrospective, observational study comparing two osteoporosis therapies on the basis of fracture reduction was presented at the Seventh European Congress on Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis (ECCEO) in Porto, Portugal.
Patients taking the osteoporosis treatment risedronate (Actonel, risedronate sodium) were almost half as likely to sustain a hip fracture as those taking alendronate in the first year of treatment, according to the REAL (Risedronate, Alendronate) study.
Only a few "head-to-head" observational studies, or comparative effectiveness studies, have been conducted in the field of osteoporosis. Beyond the safety and efficacy data provided by placebo-controlled randomized trials, healthcare professionals have increasingly expressed interest in more head-to-head data comparing therapies on the relevant clinical endpoint, fracture.
Today experts are highlighting that well-designed comparative effectiveness studies can help advance our clinical knowledge where little data exists. Dr. Olaf Klungel, Associate Professor, Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacotherapy, University of Utrecht, Netherlands, is a leading expert in the field of comparative effectiveness study design.
"There is a wealth of data available from large healthcare databases that enable us to research important clinical questions," said Dr. Klungel, "Robust methodology exists for comparing different therapies through observational database analysis. We must advance physicians' understanding and evaluation of these studies so that they can confidently integrate the information into their clinical decisions, when appropriate."
Physicians want to know the impact of their clinical decisions on the disease outcomes that matter most to patients. In the cardiovascular area, observational methods have been applied to compare antihypertensive therapies on the relevant outcomes of heart attack and stroke.2,3 In osteoporosis, similar methods are now being applied to compare therapies on the basis of fracture.