title: Efficacy of zoledronic acid in treatment of osteoporosis in men and women-a meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Osteoporosis is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the elderly and an important public health issue. Bisphosphonates are the primary treatment options for osteoporosis. The oral administration of bisphosphonates may result in poor patient compliance and thence reduced treatment efficacy. Intravenously administered bisphosphonates may therefore show better treatment efficacy. We have carried out a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of zoledronic acid treatment for osteoporosis in both men and women with either vertebral or non-vertebral fracture.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomized controlled trials with zoledronic acid treatment for osteoporosis were retrieved from PubMed, EMBASE and clinicaltrials.gov. The risk ratio with 95% confidence interval (RR, 95% CI) was calculated to evaluate the effect of zoledronic acid treatment on incidence of fracture. Data on changes in bone mineral density (BMD) following zoledronic acid (ZOL) treatment was also extracted. STATA software was used for all the statistical analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant reduction in the incidence of both vertebral and nonvertebral fracture was observed following ZOL treatment, as seen from the values for RR with 95% CI (RR 0.24 and 95% CI 0.15 to 0.40 for vertebral fractures; RR 0.76 and 95% CI 0.67 to 0.86 for nonvertebral fractures). BMD was also seen to be increased after ZOL treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ourmeta-analysis showed that zoledronic acid was effective in reducing the incidence of vertebral fractures as well as nonvertebral fractures, including hip fractures. Significant increase in bone mineral density (BMD) was also observed in patients administered ZOL as compared to placebo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Elderly Endocrinology, Chinese PLA General Hospital Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Minyan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University Beijing 10050, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Elderly Endocrinology, Chinese PLA General Hospital Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.affiliation: Department of Elderly Endocrinology, Chinese PLA General Hospital Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Elderly Endocrinology, Chinese PLA General Hospital Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Mengmeng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Elderly Endocrinology, Chinese PLA General Hospital Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Lichao
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Elderly Endocrinology, Chinese PLA General Hospital Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Elderly Endocrinology, Chinese PLA General Hospital Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Banruo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Elderly Endocrinology, Chinese PLA General Hospital Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Chunlin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: Bisphosphonates; bone mineral density; hip fracture; osteoporosis