A study published in the October issue of the journal JAMA Internal Medicine looks at prescription drug use patterns before and after fragility fracture. The research team conducted a retrospective cohort study of 168,133 community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries who were enrolled in fee-for-service Medicare with drug coverage and who survived a fracture of the hip, shoulder, or wrist. 

Overall, 77.1 percent of hip, 74.1 percent of wrist, and 75.9 percent of shoulder fracture patients were exposed to at least one non-opiate drug associated with increased fracture risk in the 4 months before fracture. The research team found that about 7 percent of those patients discontinued the drug exposure following fracture, but this was offset by new users after fracture, leaving no significant change in the proportion of the cohort exposed following fracture and no change in the average number of fracture-associated drugs used. Learn more...