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Analysis of the association between bisphosphonate treatment survival in Danish hip fracture patients—a nationwide register-based open cohort study

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Abstract

Summary

Bisphosphonate (BP) users have decreased mortality, but this could be due to channeling bias. National healthcare data on hip fracture showed lower mortality in patients who were treated prior to fracture or began treatment after fracture. Reduced mortality after only one prescription filled points to the importance of patient factors.

Introduction

Use of bisphosphonates has been found to be associated with decreased mortality even when adjusted for sex, frailty, bone mineral density and comorbidity, but BP may chiefly be initiated in patients with osteoporosis whose life expectancy is judged to be good. Our aim was to investigate the association between BP initiated before or after a hip fracture with mortality, and any modifying effects of comorbid conditions and recurrent fracture.

Methods

This register-based cohort study used prescription and mortality information for Danish patients born ≤1945 experiencing a hip fracture between 1/Jan/1999 and 31/Dec/ 2002 (N = 42,076). Patients who began BP after hip fracture were compared with hip fracture patients who remained alive at the time when their matched index case began treatment.

Results

Patients who used BP prior to their hip fracture (4.6 %) had significantly lower 3-month mortality (adjusted odds ratio, OR, 0.68; 0.59–0.77). Patients who began BP after the fracture (2.6 %) had significantly decreased mortality, both for patients who filled only one prescription (adjusted hazard ratio, HR 0.84; 0.73–0.95) and for patients who filled multiple prescriptions HR 0.73 (0.61–0.88). There was a significant interaction by gender with no significant risk reduction in men.

Conclusion

This national dataset shows significantly and substantially improved survival in women who receive BP before or after their hip fracture. However, the observation of a reduction in mortality in patients who filled only one prescription for a BP suggests that patient factors may account for a considerable part of the survival advantage observed with BPs.

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Conflicts of interest

This study received grant support from Kaptajnløjtnant Harald Jensen og Hustrus Fond, Denmark. The funders had no influence on the study and did not review the manuscript. Disclosures for individual authors are as follows: LB: None. PE: Grant/research support from Nycomed, Amgen, Novartis Speakers Bureau with Nycomed, GSK, Novartis, Eli Lilly and Amgen. BA: Grant/research support from Novartis, Nycomed, Amgen, Merck. Speakers Bureau with Amgen, Nycomed, Merck, Eli Lilly.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine and Endocrinology F, Gentofte Hospital, 2900, Hellerup, Denmark

    L. Bondo & B. Abrahamsen

  2. Department of Cardiology, Nephrology and Endocrinology, Hillerød Hospital, Hillerød, Denmark

    P. Eiken

  3. Odense Patient Data Exploratory Network (OPEN), Institute of Clinical Research, SDU, Odense, Denmark

    B. Abrahamsen

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  1. L. Bondo
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  2. P. Eiken
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  3. B. Abrahamsen
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Correspondence to B. Abrahamsen.

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Bondo, L., Eiken, P. & Abrahamsen, B. Analysis of the association between bisphosphonate treatment survival in Danish hip fracture patients—a nationwide register-based open cohort study. Osteoporos Int 24, 245–252 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-012-2024-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-012-2024-8

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