Effect of Fluoride Treatment on the Fracture Rate in Postmenopausal Women with Osteoporosis

Abstract

Abstract Although fluoride increases bone mass, the newly formed bone may have reduced strength. To assess the effect of fluoride treatment on the fracture rate in osteoporosis, we conducted a four-year prospective clinical trial in 202 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and vertebral fractures who were randomly assigned to receive sodium fluoride (75 mg per day) or placebo. All received a calcium supplement (1500 mg per day). Sixty-six women in the fluoride group and 69 women in the placebo group completed the trial. As compared with the placebo group, the treatment group had increases in median bone mineral density of 35 percent (P<0.0001) in the lumbar spine (predominantly cancellous bone), 12 percent (P<0.0001) in the femoral neck, and 10 percent (P<0.0001) in the femoral trochanter (sites of mixed cortical and cancellous bone), but the bone mineral density decreased by 4 percent (P<0.02) in the shaft of the radius (predominantly cortical bone). The number of new vertebral fractures was similar in...