title: Association between alendronate and atypical femur fractures: a meta-analysis.
abstract: Alendronate (ALN) is a commonly used drug for the treatment of osteoporosis. Atypical femur fractures (AFFs) have been associated with long-term use of ALN and have recently become the subject of considerable attention as ALN use increases. This meta-analysis aimed to determine the relationship between ALN and AFF. The Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane library databases were searched for relevant studies published before November 6, 2014. Studies clearly reporting the relationship between ALN and AFF were selected for our analysis. From these results, the relationship between ALN and AFF was analyzed. Weighted mean differences were calculated using a random-effects model. Five studies were included in this meta-analysis. The results revealed that the use of ALN will not increase the risk of AFF in short term (P>0.05), but there will be a risk of AFF (P<0.05) with long-term (>5 years) use of ALN. These findings indicate that long-term use of ALN is a risk factor for AFF and that more attention should be paid to the clinical applications of ALN.
authors.affiliation: Department of EndocrinologyShanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 301 Yanchang Middle Road, Shanghai 200072, ChinaDepartment of Internal MedicineShanghai Dachang Hospital, Shanghai 200442, ChinaDepartment of PaediatricsNingbo Women and Children's Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province 315012, China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of EndocrinologyShanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 301 Yanchang Middle Road, Shanghai 200072, ChinaDepartment of Internal MedicineShanghai Dachang Hospital, Shanghai 200442, ChinaDepartment of PaediatricsNingbo Women and Children's Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province 315012, China.
authors.forename: Chunyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of EndocrinologyShanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 301 Yanchang Middle Road, Shanghai 200072, ChinaDepartment of Internal MedicineShanghai Dachang Hospital, Shanghai 200442, ChinaDepartment of PaediatricsNingbo Women and Children's Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province 315012, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of EndocrinologyShanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 301 Yanchang Middle Road, Shanghai 200072, ChinaDepartment of Internal MedicineShanghai Dachang Hospital, Shanghai 200442, ChinaDepartment of PaediatricsNingbo Women and Children's Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province 315012, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of EndocrinologyShanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 301 Yanchang Middle Road, Shanghai 200072, ChinaDepartment of Internal MedicineShanghai Dachang Hospital, Shanghai 200442, ChinaDepartment of PaediatricsNingbo Women and Children's Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province 315012, China.
authors.forename: Dongmei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.affiliation: Department of EndocrinologyShanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 301 Yanchang Middle Road, Shanghai 200072, ChinaDepartment of Internal MedicineShanghai Dachang Hospital, Shanghai 200442, ChinaDepartment of PaediatricsNingbo Women and Children's Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province 315012, China.
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bu
authors.affiliation: Department of EndocrinologyShanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 301 Yanchang Middle Road, Shanghai 200072, ChinaDepartment of Internal MedicineShanghai Dachang Hospital, Shanghai 200442, ChinaDepartment of PaediatricsNingbo Women and Children's Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province 315012, China.
authors.forename: Manna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of EndocrinologyShanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 301 Yanchang Middle Road, Shanghai 200072, ChinaDepartment of Internal MedicineShanghai Dachang Hospital, Shanghai 200442, ChinaDepartment of PaediatricsNingbo Women and Children's Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province 315012, China.
authors.forename: Chunjun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.affiliation: Department of EndocrinologyShanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 301 Yanchang Middle Road, Shanghai 200072, ChinaDepartment of Internal MedicineShanghai Dachang Hospital, Shanghai 200442, ChinaDepartment of PaediatricsNingbo Women and Children's Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province 315012, China lihong_endo@tongji.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of EndocrinologyShanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, 301 Yanchang Middle Road, Shanghai 200072, ChinaDepartment of Internal MedicineShanghai Dachang Hospital, Shanghai 200442, ChinaDepartment of PaediatricsNingbo Women and Children's Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province 315012, China.
authors.forename: Shen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qu
keywords: alendronate; atypical femur fractures; meta-analysis; osteoporosis