{"id":88881,"date":"2016-08-23T12:45:59","date_gmt":"2016-08-23T16:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?p=88881"},"modified":"2020-09-17T10:27:08","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T14:27:08","slug":"study-sheds-light-on-drugs-role-in-fractures-among-elderly","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2016\/study-sheds-light-on-drugs-role-in-fractures-among-elderly\/","title":{"rendered":"Drugs Play Role in Fractures Among Elderly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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August 23, 2016<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\"elderly-fall\"Fragility fractures\u2014those that result from a fall at standing height or less\u2014are a significant source of sickness and death among the elderly in the US and are associated with annual direct costs of more than\u00a0$16 billion.<\/p>\n

Now, a new study co-authored by a School of Public Health researcher suggests that better management of certain high-risk drugs may help to reduce the incidence of secondary fractures.<\/p>\n

The study, published online by JAMA Internal Medicine<\/em><\/a>, analyzed data from a sample of 168,133 Medicare beneficiaries (84 percent of them women, with an average age of 80) who suffered a fracture of the hip, shoulder, or wrist.<\/p>\n

The study team\u2014led by researchers from The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, and co-authored by Christine McDonough, SPH research assistant professor of health law, policy and management\u2014looked at the association between prescription drugs and fracture risk among older adults who had already experienced a first fragility fracture. Previous research has shown that not only are such patients at a significantly increased risk of experiencing a second fracture, but that the risk is greatest in the first six months after the first injury.<\/p>\n

The researchers identified 21 drug classes that have been associated with increased fracture risk. After examining the medications as a single group, the team sub-divided them into three groups: drugs believed to increase fracture risk by increasing the risk of falls; those that decrease bone density; and those in which the mechanism that caused greater fracture risk was unclear. Medicare Part D retail pharmacy claims were used to measure fills for prescriptions associated with increased fracture risk, both before and after a fracture occurred.<\/p>\n

The study found that more than three-quarters of patients were exposed to at least one non-opiate drug associated with an increased fracture risk in the four months before their fractures. Only about 7 percent of patients discontinued those drugs after their fractures. That decrease was offset by new users, so that the total proportion exposed to high-risk drugs did not change.<\/p>\n

The findings suggest that some secondary fragility fractures could be prevented through better management of medications, the authors said.<\/p>\n

They called for additional studies to determine the possible benefits of modifying post-fracture drug exposure among elderly patients at risk.<\/p>\n

\u2014Lisa Chedekel<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

High-risk drugs identified that contribute to secondary ‘fragility’ fractures. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8472,"featured_media":88882,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[2179],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3531,3535,3540],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/88881"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8472"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88881"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/88881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174111,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/88881\/revisions\/174111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88881"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=88881"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=88881"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=88881"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=88881"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=88881"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=88881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}