Link Between Antidepressants and Hip Fracture Called Into Question

The results of a recent study cast doubts onto a previously suggested association between antidepressant use and the risk of hip fracture.

To explore this association further, researchers conducted a nationwide cohort study involving 204,072 individuals who participated in the Prescribed Drugs Register of Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare. The participants were aged 65 years and older and had prescriptions for antidepressants filled between July 1, 2006, and December 31, 2011. They were matched by age and sex 1:1 with control participants. The study’s main outcome was incident hip fracture occurring in the year before and after initiation of antidepressant therapy.

Overall, antidepressant users sustained more than twice as many hip fractures as did nonusers in the year before and year after initiation of therapy (2.8% vs 1.1% and 3.5% vs 1.3%, respectively). Following adjustments, the odds ratios were highest 16 to 30 days before prescription was filled (odds ratio 5.76). This was true in all separate analyses groups.

“The present study found an association between antidepressant drug use and hip fracture before and after the initiation of therapy. This finding raises questions about the association that should be further investigated in treatment studies.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Brannstrom J, Lovheim H, Gustafson Y, et al.

Association between antidepressant drug use and hip fracture in older people before and after treatment initiation [published online January 2, 2019]. JAMA Psychiatry. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.3679.