Introduction: Older people aged over 75 are more prone to falls because physical functions become deteriorated along with aging, and also fracture risk is strongly correlated with age. We evaluated the effects of anti-osteoporosis agents, eldecalcitol (ELD) and alendronate (ALN) on physical functions by assessing dynamic and static postural balance in aged patients with osteoporosis.
Materials and methods: A randomized, open-label, controlled clinical trial has been conducted with 124 female patients aged 65 or over with osteoporosis. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either 0.75 μg of ELD once-a-day or 35 mg of ALN once-a-week for 24 weeks. The primary endpoint was the change in a postural balance index, adjusted composite equilibrium score (CES) of sensory organization test (SOT). The SOT equilibrium scores, leg muscle strength, and other physical functions were also evaluated.
Results: The Adjusted CES increased from baseline by 6.10% in the ELD group and 6.28% in the ALN group. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups. The static postural balance at fixed platform were maintained in the ELD group, but declined in the ALN group. The dynamic postural balance at swaying platform and knee extension power increased from baseline in both groups.
Conclusions: These results suggest that ELD and ALN treatments may each be beneficial to improve postural balance control in older patients with osteoporosis via different mechanisms of action.
Keywords: Bisphosphonate; Muscle strength; Osteoporosis; Postural balance; Vitamin D.