Survey on Medication Compliance of Oral Bisphosphonates in Osteoporotic Patients

Abstract

Osteoporosis is more common in elderly people and oral bisphosphonates are widely used for the treatment of osteoporosis throughout the world. It is generally considered that elderly people decline in physical function with age and find the taking of drugs to be problematic. We conducted this survey to clarify potential problems in osteoporotic patients during treatment with oral bisphosphonates. The survey of an 8-item questionnaire was performed in 32 pharmacies in Hiroshima prefecture. A total of 684 patients were enrolled in the survey, 637 patients were analyzed and 47 patients with protocol violation were excluded from the survey. Baseline characteristics were as follows: gender (female, 581; male, 56), age (< 70 years old, 26%; 70 years old ≤, 74%), administration interval (daily, 42; weekly, 313; monthly, 282). The patients with dry mouth accounted for 14% of total patients and those with experience of discomfort during swallowing accounted for 11%. Moreover, 40% of total patients had experience of forgetting to take bisphosphonates. Our survey demonstrated that osteoporotic patients taking bisphosphonates experienced several hurdles and did not complain directly to pharmacists about it. We need to communicate better with osteoporotic patients and collaborate closely with physicians, nurses and others.