Antidepressant use in menopause linked to broken bones

Conclusion This study found women aged 40-64 years without mental health illness who started taking SSRI medications had significantly higher fracture risk up to five years after starting, compared with women taking other drugs prescribed for stomach ulcers or irritation (H2A or PPIs). Risk difference was statistically significant only after the second year, suggesting SSRIs may need several months to produce clinically meaningful effects on bone mineral density. Importantly, and acknowledged by the study authors, this study can't prove cause and effect. There may be other confounding factors mediating the link between the drugs and fracture risk. There are a number of reasons why certain women cannot safely use hormone replacement therapy, so these may contribute towards fracture risk. Another limitation was the fact the cohort included women prescribed SSRIs for many non-mental health related reasons. So the risk profile across different disease categories may vary, grouping them may hide more nuanced results. The study team was not able to analyse the relationship between different doses of SSRIs and the risk of fractures. So we don’t know if there are any dose thresholds at which the fracture risk starts to increase significantly. Proton pump inhibitors can increase the risk of fractures, particularly when used at high doses for over a year in the elderly. The fact SSRIs increased the risk still further, relative to this group, suggests the risk associated with SSRI c...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medication Older people Source Type: news