Examining anastrozole’s effect on women’s bones
- Anastrozole does increase the risk of bone fractures in postmenopausal women but this is closely monitored in the IBIS-II trial.
- Women who join the prevention trial have a spinal x-ray and a bone density scan (DXA scan) to ensure that they have a safe level of bone density. Those women who do not have a safe level will be told that they can only join the study if they are willing to take a bisphosphonate (bone strength medication). In this way, those women at high risk of bone fractures are identified and can be offered a preventive treatment such as a bisphosphonate.
- 1,000 women on the prevention study will also be given the option to join the bone ‘sub-study’ which aims to investigate the effects of anastrozole on bone density.
- This sub-study will closely monitor the density (strength) of the women’s bones after 1, 3, 5 and 7 years of starting the trial to observe any changes.
