Researchers have discovered an unexpected and effective effect of a treatment against osteoporosis to cure pneumonia.
- A 24% lower risk of pneumonia in patients who received nitrogen bisphosphonates, a treatment generally used to treat osteoporosis.
- These patients also have a 35% lower risk of mortality.
- Nitrogen bisphosphonates could treat symptoms of Covid-19.
Osteoporosis is a disease that causes a deterioration of the internal architecture which makes the skeleton more fragile and increases the risk of fractures. To treat it, doctors usually prescribe nitrogen bisphosphonates (N-BP) such as alendronate. Researchers at the University of Hong Kong have found that these drugs may reduce the risk of pneumonia and death from pneumonia. They published their results in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.
A treatment to treat symptoms of Covid-19
The researchers studied patients who suffered a first hip fracture, between 2005 and 2015, and who were followed up until December 31, 2016. Of these, 4,041 received nitrogen bisphosphonates and 11,802 had no no anti-osteoporosis treatment. The results showed that patients in the first group had a 24% lower risk of pneumonia compared to the second group who did not receive this treatment, i.e. 69 cases versus 90 cases per 1,000 people per year. This same correlation was noted by the researchers concerning the deaths since the group which took nitrogenous bisphosphonates presented a lower risk of 35% with 23 deaths against 35 per 1000 patients per year.
For Ching-Lung Cheung, a researcher from the University of Hong Kong and lead author of the study, the effectiveness of nitrogen bisphosphonate treatments on pneumonia could be explained by the anti-inflammatory and immuno-modulating properties of the drug. According to the researcher, the study of the potential of nitrogen bisphosphonates could thus be justified for the treatment of the symptoms of Covid-19.
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