Efficacy of risedronate in men with primary and secondary osteoporosis: results of a 1-year study.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Vitamin D and Calcium in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Osteoporosis is prevalent in men with an estimated one in eight men older than 50 years suffering from osteoporotic fracture, and a higher mortality rate after fracture among men compared with women.

There are few approved therapies for osteoporosis in men.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 316 men taking part.

The age groups tagged for this paper are middle-aged adults and older adults, men only.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized and open-label study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Vitamin D and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Nothing was hidden in this open-label Vitamin D study: the men and staff both knew the treatment.

What Was Measured

A single-center, open label, randomized, prospective 1-year study was conducted in men with primary or secondary osteoporosis.

Bone mineral density (BMD) measurements, X-rays of the spine, a medical history and physical exam, and patient self-assessments of back pain were performed at baseline and 12 months.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Back Pain, Bone Density, Bone Density Conservation Agents, Calcium, Etidronic Acid, Fractures, Bone and Osteoporosis.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and open-label study of Vitamin D and Calcium in 316 men.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

The publication is from 2006 (Rheumatology international), a journal based in Germany.

More context: the related Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc library page, all human trials.