MONTREAL – Antiresorptive drugs help reduce the risk of low-trauma, nonvertebral fractures among women over 50 being treated in a real-world setting, according to a Canadian case-control study presented at the annual meeting of the International Bone and Mineral Society.
Women with a prevalent fracture or with frank osteoporosis appeared to have most to gain from these drugs in terms of fracture risk reduction.
Dr. Suzanne Morin of McGill University in Montreal, and her colleagues, obtained data from the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study (CaMos), in which more than 6,000 women over the age of 50 were randomly selected from nine regions across Canada for follow-up. The women in this study underwent a standardized interview that addressed demographics and medical history. They also underwent measurement of their bone mineral density (BMD).
The researchers conducted a case-control analysis of the CaMos data in which women with self-reported incident low-trauma fractures, excluding fractures of the head, hands, feet, or vertebrae, were matched with up to three controls with respect to time in study, age, prevalent osteoporosis, prevalent vertebral deformity, prior clinical low-trauma fracture, and availability of baseline BMD.
Overall, 477 cases and 1,377 matched controls were included in the analysis. Among matched cases, 37% were current users of antiresorptive agents, compared with 41% among matched controls. Antiresorptive agents used included estrogen, bisphosphonates, selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), and calcitonin.
Current use of antiresorptive drugs was associated with an adjusted odds ratio of 0.68 for risk of having a low-trauma fracture. Among women with a prevalent fracture or a BMD indicative of osteoporosis, the OR was 0.58, compared with an OR of 0.88 for women with neither of these risk factors.