A meta-analysis published in the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience investigated the effect of bisphosphonate use in patients receiving treatment for ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

The Medline, Cochrane, Scopus, and Embase databases were queried for studies between 2000 and 2020 that included data on patient age, disease duration, disease activity, and bone mineral density (BMD). Six comparative studies were included in the final analysis.

The researchers found no significant differences in demographic characteristics, disease activity, and BMD in patients with and without bisphosphonate use. However, patients taking bisphosphonates displayed higher follow-up erythrocyte sedimentation rate compared the no bisphosphonate group.

In conclusion, the authors wrote, “Despite the heterogeneity, a limited number of meta-analyses reported that bisphosphonate treatment was not clearly better than non-bisphosphonate treatment. Hence, further large-scale multicenter studies are required to validate our results.”

Source: Journal of Clinical Neuroscience https://www.jocn-journal.com/article/S0967-5868(21)00435-5/fulltext