Patients suffering om rheumch diseases or osteoporosis often su'er critical losses in hone mineral densitj,r {BM}. Alendronate is one medication prescribed to build or prevent irther loss of BIVED. Holcomb and Rothenberg {iii-3} looked at 96 women taking alendronate to determine if a dierence existed in the mean percent change in BMD among ve different primaryr diagnosis classications. Group 1 patients were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis {RA}- Group 2 patients were a mixed collection of patients with diseases including lupus VJegener s granulomatosis and poly arteritis and other tasculitic diseases @LTPUS}. Group 3 patients had poh n11- algia rheumatic or temporal arthritis {PETA}. Group 4 patients had osteoarthritis {GA} and group 5 patients had osteoporosis {G} with no other rheumatic diseases identied in the medical record. Changes in BMD are shown in Table Elt}