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Introduction: EUROFORS was a 2-yr prospective, randomized trial of postmenopausal women with established osteoporosis, designed to investigate various sequential treatments after teriparatide 20 microg/d for 1 yr. The present secondary analysis examined the effects of 2 yr of open-label teriparatide in women previously treated with antiresorptive drugs for at least 1 yr., Methods: A subgroup of 245 women with osteoporosis who had 2 yr of teriparatide treatment were stratified by previous predominant antiresorptive treatment into four groups: alendronate (n=107), risedronate (n=59), etidronate (n=30), and non-bisphosphonate (n=49). Bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine and hip was determined after 6, 12, 18, and 24 months, and bone formation markers were measured after 1 and 6 months., Results: Significant increases in bone formation markers occurred in all groups after 1 month of teriparatide treatment. Lumbar spine BMD increased at all visits, whereas a transient decrease in hip BMD, which was subsequently reversed, was observed in all groups. BMD responses were similar in all previous antiresorptive groups. Previous etidronate users showed a higher increase at the spine but not at the hip BMD. Duration of previous antiresorptive therapy and lag time between stopping previous therapy and starting teriparatide did not affect the BMD response at any skeletal site. Treatment-emergent adverse events were similar to those reported in treatment-naive postmenopausal women with osteoporosis treated with teriparatide., Conclusions: Teriparatide induces positive effects on BMD and markers of bone formation in postmenopausal women with established osteoporosis, regardless of previous long-term exposure to antiresorptive therapies.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to extend the metaanalysis of Bischoff-Ferrari et al., which found that 700-800 IU/d vitamin D reduced hip fracture risk in elderly individuals by 25%, by defining the need for additional calcium supplementation in individuals receiving vitamin D for the prevention of hip fractures., Data Sources: MEDLINE and EMBASE.com (search terms: "vitamin D" and "hip fracture"), bibliographies of articles retrieved, and the authors' reference files were used as data sources., Study Selection: Selected studies were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of oral vitamin D with or without calcium supplementation vs. placebo/no treatment in postmenopausal women and/or older men (>or=50 yr) specifically reporting a risk of hip fracture., Data Extraction: Independent extraction was performed by two authors using predefined criteria, including study quality indicators., Data Synthesis: All pooled analyses are based on random-effects models. Based on four RCTs (9083 patients), the pooled relative risk (RR) of hip fracture for vitamin D alone was 1.10 [95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.89, 1.36]. No between-trial heterogeneity was observed. For the six RCTs (45,509 patients) of vitamin D with calcium supplementation, the pooled RR for hip fracture was 0.82 (95% CI 0.71, 0.94). There was no heterogeneity between trials. In an adjusted indirect comparison of the summary RRs from the two metaanalyses, the RR for hip fracture for vitamin D with calcium vs. vitamin D alone was 0.75 (95% CI 0.58, 0.96)., Conclusions: Our analyses, designed to extend the findings of Bischoff-Ferrari et al., suggest that oral vitamin D appears to reduce the risk of hip fractures only when calcium supplementation is added.