Doctors have been unsure how long women need to be on these drugs, some advising they be taken indefinitely.
The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The need to establish the optimum duration of bisphosphonates for postmenopausal women, who have weaker bones because of hormone changes, was raised by the government's treatment watchdog, the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) last year.
It said: "Given the emergence of evidence from one bisphosphonate that the benefits of the drug may continue for several years beyond treatment cessation, the Institute recommends that research should be carried out to define both the optimal duration of treatment with individual bisphosphonates, and the most beneficial age at which to start treatment."
The latest work found women who discontinued a bisphosphonate called alendronate after five years or more had the same rate of non-spine fractures as women who continued the drug.
The findings also suggests that women who wish to take the drug for 10 years can do so safely.
Steve - at least we finally received some information on this. As with most medications, there are no studies on long-term safety or efficacy. This is the ifrst study we have seen addressing this issue!
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