Reduction in the risk of developing back pain persists at least 30 months after discontinuation of teriparatide treatment: a meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Teriparatide [rhPTH (1-34)] reduces fracture risk, and in a published meta-analysis of clinical trials, teriparatide-treated patients had reduced incidence of back pain relative to placebo or to antiresorptive drugs. The aim of this study was to evaluate back pain in teriparatide-treated versus comparator-treated patients during an interval including controlled clinical trials plus 30 months of additional follow-up. METHODS: A meta-analysis of four completed randomized, double-blinded trials of teriparatide [rhPTH (1-34)] versus comparator was performed. A multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the heterogeneity of results and to estimate the relative risk of back pain. RESULTS: Patients in the pooled teriparatide group had reduced risk for any back pain [relative risk, 0.73 (95% CI, 0.61-0.87)], moderate or severe back pain [0.72 (0.58-0.89)], and severe back pain [0.39 (0.25-0.61)] compared with pooled controls, from initiation of the study drug through the end of follow-up. Sensitivity analysis showed that the results were robust to the removal of each individual trial from the meta-analysis. Separate meta-analyses comparing teriparatide versus placebo or antiresorptive drugs gave similar results. CONCLUSIONS: Teriparatide-treated patients had a reduced incidence of back pain versus those receiving a comparator during an observation encompassing clinical trials plus 30 months of posttreatment observation.