Women with type-2 diabetes who take rosiglitazone (Avandia canadian, Avandamet tablet, or Avandaryl, GlaxoSmithKline) may be more likely to experience bone fractures compared with women who use other agents. The FDA and GlaxoSmithKline have advised physicians to consider fracture risk when they treat women with these agents.
In one study, more than 4,000 patients were randomly assigned to take rosigli-tazone, metformin (Glucophage canadian), or gly-buride (Diabeta, Micronase) for four to six years. During that time, women taking rosiglitazone were more likely to have bone fractures than women taking either generic metformin or glyburide. Most of the fractures affected the bones in the upper arm, hand, or foot.
This problem was not seen in men taking rosiglitazone generic.
In another study of 50 postmenopausal women, those patients taking rosiglitazone had a 1.9% decrease in total hip bone density after 14 weeks of treatment, whereas those taking a placebo experienced a reduction of 0.2%.
It is not clear how the drugs affect fracture risk, but it is thought that the medication decreases bone formation.
