Effects of Teriparatide Compared with Risedronate on the Risk of Fractures in Subgroups of Postmenopausal Women with Severe Osteoporosis: The VERO Trial

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Teriparatide, published as a randomized controlled trial.

The 2-year, randomized, double-blind, active-controlled fracture endpoint VERO study included postmenopausal women with established osteoporosis, who had at least 2 moderate or 1 severe baseline vertebral fractures (VFx), and bone mineral density (BMD) T-score ≤-1.5.

Here the researchers present the prospectively planned subgroup analyses of fracture data across subgroups, which were predefined by the following baseline characteristics: age, number and severity of prevalent VFx, prevalent nonvertebral fractures (NVFx), glucocorticoid use, prior osteoporosis drugs, recent bisphosphonate use, clinical VFx in the year before study entry, and baseline BMD.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 1360 women were involved.

PubMed indexes the participants as older adults, women only.

A total of 1360 women were randomized and treated (680 per group).

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized and double-blind.

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

Blinding on both sides kept the women and researchers unaware of who received Teriparatide.

What Was Measured

The 2-year, randomized, double-blind, active-controlled fracture endpoint VERO study included postmenopausal women with established osteoporosis, who had at least 2 moderate or 1 severe baseline vertebral fractures (VFx), and bone mineral density (BMD) T-score ≤-1.5.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Osteoporosis, Postmenopause, Risedronic Acid, Risk Factors, Spinal Fractures and Teriparatide.

The authors tagged it with the keywords BISPHOSPHONATES, POSTMENOPAUSAL OSTEOPOROSIS, SUBGROUP ANALYSIS and VERTEBRAL FRACTURES.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and double-blind study of Teriparatide in 1360 women.

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

The publication is from 2018 (Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research), a journal based in England.

More context: the Teriparatide compound page, all human trials.