Fracture Risk for People Taking Multiple Medications

A study published in JAMA Network Open found a strong association between the number of fracture-associated drugs (FADs) older adults are prescribed and their fracture risk, reports ScienceDaily . "With older adults consuming, on average, five medications simultaneously, we suspected that a good number of seniors are likely to use more than one of these fracture-associated drugs at a time," said Dartmouth College's Rebecca Emeny. The researchers examined the prescription records of 2.5 million Medicare beneficiaries, and learned that FADs were commonly used and commonly combined among older U.S. residents. Unsurprisingly, the more fracture-associated drugs people took, the higher their fracture risk — but the size of the additional risk was greater than anticipated. Taking any one of the FADs doubled a person's risk, taking any two nearly tripled it, and taking three or more quadrupled risk, on average. The most commonly prescribed FADs were opioids, followed by diuretics and proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). Opioids and sedatives, opioids and diuretics, and opioids and PPIs were the most dangerous FAD combinations. "The results . . . suggest caution when combining FADs, especially when use is discretionary, alternatives exist, or baseline fracture risk is high," said Dartmouth's Nancy Morden.