REPLY
Update in Endocrinology
Janet A. Schlechte, MD
17 August 1999 | Volume 131 Issue 4 | Page 309
IN RESPONSE:
I agree with Heath and colleagues that the statement about marketing raloxifene for women at risk for breast cancer is a factual error. Raloxifene is indicated for prevention of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women at risk for bone loss. The other comments about fracture risk represent new information; the statement in the Update is not an error.
After our Update was submitted, presentations at the European Congress on Osteoporosis (September 1998) and a joint meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research and the International Bone and Mineral Society (December 1998) reported that raloxifene is effective in reducing vertebral fractures (1, 2). These data are encouraging, and clinicians await publication of the placebo-controlled clinical trial from which these data originate.
Finally, until the planned, prospective analyses of coronary heart disease events, electrocardiographic changes, and other cardiovascular events described by Heath and colleagues are published, it is not inappropriate to conclude that actual cardiovascular outcomes of treatment with raloxifene have not been measured.
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Author and Article Information
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University of Iowa; Iowa City, IA 52242 (Schlechte)
1. Ettinger B, Black D, Cummings S, Genant H, Glüer P, Lips P, et al. Raloxifene reduces the risk of incident vertebral fractures: 24-month interim analyses [Abstract] Osteoporosis Int. 1998;8(Suppl 3):11.
2. Ensrud KE, Harris S, Pols HA, Black D, Recker R, Harris S, et al. The effect of 2 and 3 years of raloxifene on vertebral and non-vertebral fractures in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis [Abstract] Bone. 1998;23(Suppl 5):174.
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