The bone strengthening drug risedronate has been found to reduce the high incidence of hip fractures in Parkinson's disease patients.

Such were the findings of a two-year study of 242 Japanese elderly men with Parkinson's.

The study found the men taking risedronate were three times less likely to sustain a hip fracture compared to the placebo group.

Researchers also found bone mineral density (BMD) among men taking risedronate increased by 2.2 percent and decreased by nearly three percent in the placebo group.

In addition, researchers found a biomarker for bone loss decreased by nearly 47 percent in the risedronate group and 33 percent in the placebo group.

The said study was led by Yoshihiro Sato, MD, with Mitate Hospital in Tokyo and supported by Takeda Pharmaceuticals, (co-developer of risedronate).

Findings have been reported in Neurology®, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Read the full report.

[article abstract]

[In Photo: Actonel®, a risedronate brand; Photo Credit: How Stuff Works]