Copyright
©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Physicians’ knowledge and attitude regarding bisphosphonates-related adverse events: An observational study
Lana El Osta, Nada El Osta, Reine Tannous, Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, Saint-Joseph University, Beirut 1107 2180, Lebanon
Antoine Aoun, Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, Notre Dame University, Zouk Mosbeh 1211, Lebanon
Marwan Ghosn, Department of Hematology-Oncology, School of Medicine, Saint-Joseph University, Beirut 1107 2180, Lebanon
Hazem El Osta, Feist-Weiller Cancer Center, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Shreveport, LA 71103, United States
Author contributions: El Osta L, El Osta N and El Osta H contributed with conception and design; Tannous R and Aoun A participated in the acquisition of the data; El Osta N, Aoun A and Ghosn M participated in the analysis and interpretation of the data; El Osta L and El Osta N drafted the initial manuscript; Tannous R, Aoun A, Ghosn M and El Osta H revised critically the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The Institutional Review Board of the Hôtel-Dieu de France hospital of Beirut approved the study protocol.
Informed consent statement: All study participants provided their written informed consent to participate in the study. All data were encoded and kept confidentially.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Lana El Osta, MD, Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, Saint-Joseph University, PO Box 11-5076, Riad El Solh, Beirut 1107 2180, Lebanon. lanaosta@hotmail.com
Telephone: +961-70-955964 Fax: +961-1-613397
Received: December 4, 2016
Peer-review started: December 5, 2016
First decision: January 16, 2017
Revised: February 10, 2017
Accepted: March 3, 2017
Article in press: March 5, 2017
Published online: March 12, 2017
Peer-review started: December 5, 2016
First decision: January 16, 2017
Revised: February 10, 2017
Accepted: March 3, 2017
Article in press: March 5, 2017
Published online: March 12, 2017
Core Tip
Core tip: Bisphosphonates (BPs) have been proven to be effective, tolerated and relatively safe to a large number of patients. However, they were associated with reports of multiple adverse events. Given the widespread use of these medications, detailed knowledge on occurrence of even rare side effects is imperative. In this study, we assess the knowledge and approach of our physicians regarding BPs-related complications. Eventually, this evaluation will facilitate the elaboration of appropriate training programs to increase their awareness and improve their practice. It will incite pharmaceutical companies to reconsider the instructions they provide to physicians about the complications of treatments they promote.