Hetereogeneity in skeletal response to full-length parathyroid hormone in the treatment of osteoporosis

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84), published as a randomized controlled trial.

In the PaTH trial, among the 119 women randomized to parathyroid hormone PTH(1-84) and 60 to alendronate, the researchers found much greater variation in BMD and markers in response to PTH(1-84) compared to alendronate.

The researchers examined variability in BMD and markers of bone turnover in response to treatment with PTH(1-84) or alendronate in the PaTH trial.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 119 women taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as middle-aged adults, older adults and people over 80, women only.

Change in BMD across quartiles of participant characteristics was examined using ANOVA.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Differences in SD were examined using Levine's test for homogeneity of variance.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Alendronate, Biomarkers, Bone Density, Bone Density Conservation Agents, Lumbar Vertebrae, Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal and Parathyroid Hormone.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84) in 119 women.

Its findings take up roughly 9 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2007 (Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA), a journal based in England.

More context: the Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84) compound page, all human trials.