Principal Investigator: Sarah E. Fowler, Ph.D.

ites Testing Osteoporosis Prevention/Intervention Treatments (STOP/IT) is a cooperative agreement funded by the National Institute on Aging. Sarah Fowler is the Principal Investigator and Kathryn Hirst is Co-investigator. The STOP/IT project is investigating the impact of four different interventions on the rate of bone loss in the elderly. The four trials randomized 1119 subjects and followed them for up to three years on interventions of hormone replacement therapy, vitamin D, calcium supplements, weight bearing exercise, or testosterone. In addition to longitudinal measurement of bone mineral density using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, effects on mobility and activities of daily living are also examined. Three of the STOP/IT clinical centers are now engaged in a two-year post intervention follow-up study. The coordinating center is responsible for: creating a cooperative effort among the independent trials; for accumulation, management, and analysis of the central common data set; and for reporting to the Data Safety Monitoring Board. Investigators meet as a Steering Committee to decide the contents of the common data set, quality control issues affecting laboratory and bone density values, and statistical analysis and manuscript preparation. (NIH -NIA - Cooperative Agreement, AG10373, 1999-2000)