Treatment breaks in long-term management of osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a common chronic disease and therefore a long-term management plan based on disease severity, comorbidities, other pharmacological treatments, gender, age and patient preferences is necessary. Consideration of treatment breaks may be included in the long-term management plan if the patient has been treated with a bisphosphonate, the disease is less severe, the response to treatment has been satisfactory and the risk of future fracture is estimated to be low. This perspective reviews the current evidence for long-term treatment with bisphosphonates and off treatment effects. Approaches to decision making and monitoring of treatment breaks are discussed.