Elderly women who’ve had a Stroke are prone to fall and break a hip, but drug treatment to strengthen their bones reduces the risk of hip fracture, Japanese researchers have found.

Dr. Yoshihiro Sato and associates studied women aged 65 or more admitted to the stroke care unit of the Mitate Hospital in Tagawa. Starting on the third day after their stroke began, the participants were randomly assigned to take the bone-building drug Actonel daily or an inactive “placebo” for one year.

Although the number of falls did not differ significantly between groups, only one patient in the Actonel group had a hip fracture on the side affected by the stroke, compared to seven patients in the placebo group, the team reports in the medical journal Neurology.

The researchers measured bone mineral and found that it increased by 1.5 percent on the stroke-affected side after treatment with Actonel - generic name, risedronate - and decreased by 4.9 percent after placebo. Corresponding changes on the non-affected side were a 2.2 percent increase and a 2.4 percent reduction.

The investigators also found blood levels of vitamin D, a major determinant of bone mineral density, were decreased in both groups. Therefore, they suggest that rather than Actonel alone, “a combination therapy of vitamin D supplementation and risedronate may be more suitable.”

SOURCE: Neurology, March 8, 2005.