Antidepressants May Increase Hip Fracture Risk in Older Adults

Researchers in Sweden report that older adults on antidepressant medications are more than twice as likely to experience a hip fracture compared to peers who do not use the drugs, states MedShadow . The researchers examined a registry of 408,000 patients aged 65 and older, with an average age of 80. Half were prescribed an antidepressant and the other half were not. The study found that antidepressant users were more than twice as likely as nonusers to have suffered a hip fracture both before and after starting therapy. In the year before starting therapy, 2.8 percent in the antidepressant group experienced a hip fracture compared to 1.1 percent in the comparator group. Up to a year after going on an antidepressant, 3.5 percent in that group had a hip fracture compared with 1.3 percent in the other group. The highest odds of experiencing a hip fracture were 16 to 30 days before treatment with an antidepressant.