Even as the number of women aged 50 years and older continues to rise, the percentage who are taking osteoporosis medications has fallen by one-third since 2004-2005, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported.
In 2004-2005, 15% of all women aged 50 years and over were using some form of prescribed osteoporosis drug, but that number had dropped to 10% by 2010-2011, according to data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. The total number of women aged 50 and older increased from 47.8 million to 55.2 million over that same time period.
In 2010-2011, 8.3% of all women aged at least 50 years were using bisphosphonates, down from a high of 12.3% in 2006-2007 but up from 5.6% in 2000-2001. Use of the next most popular form of osteoporosis medication, the selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMS), declined from 4.2% of all older women in 2002-2003 to 1.6% in 2010-2011, the AHRQ said.
Data for denosumab (Prolia), a fully human monoclonal antibody drug approved for the treatment of osteoporosis, were not available in the MEPS during the analysis period.