Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Share by Email
Print
HealthDay News – Community-dwelling patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) experience a lower risk for fractures, including hip fractures, with thiazide use, according to a study published online April 16 in Osteoporosis International.
Heidi Taipale, PhD, from the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio, and colleagues used data from all community-dwelling individuals diagnosed with AD in Finland (2005 to 2011) to identify 10,416 patients with low-energy fractures (LEFs) and 5578 with hip fractures. LEF cases were matched with up to 3 controls without LEF based on time since AD diagnosis, age, and gender. The association between thiazide use and risk for LEFs was evaluated. Follow-up continued through 2015.
The researchers identified current thiazide use in 10.5% of LEF cases and 12.5% of controls. There was a decreased risk for LEF associated with current thiazide use (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.83). There was no association between decreased risk and short-term use (less than 1 year or one to 3 years), but longer use (more than 3 years) was associated with a reduced risk for LEF (aOR, 0.77) and hip fracture (aOR, 0.68).
“Our study extends the previous knowledge of reduced fracture risk of thiazides to persons with AD, a population with significantly increased background risk of fractures,” the authors write.
Several authors disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical companies.
