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Research presented at the American College of Chest Physicians meeting suggests that people taking drugs for osteoporosis maybe at an increased risk of experiencing atrial fibrillation, known as an irregular heartbeat.
Researchers came to this conclusion based on a study of 16,000 women between the ages of 69 and 75 who were randomly assigned to take either an osteoporosis drug or a placebo.
Up to 3% of women taking the actual drugs reported irregular heartbeats, and in 1% of those cases women needed to be hospitalized.
Atrial fibrillation can be very serious, and can show in symptoms including light headedness, palpitations and even chest pain.
“In patients with increased risk factors for atrial fibrillation, clinicians should be more cautious when choosing treatment for osteoporosis and weigh the risks against the benefit of decreased fracture risk,” said researcher Dr. Jennifer Miranda, of Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami in a news release.
