Inhibitor Drugs Cut Fracture Risk in Patients With Alzheimer Disease

Treatment with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) helps reduce the risk of osteoporotic fractures in elderly patients with Alzheimer disease (AD), a new study found.

From 1998 to 2013, the researchers assessed 1190 patients aged 65 years or older with AD and no previous history of osteoporotic fractures who sustained a fracture during the study period, along with 4760 matched controls. Patient data were obtained from the United Kingdom (UK) Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database.
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Information from the CRPD databases was used to analyze AChEI use and relevant potential confounders for both groups.

Findings showed that any use of AChEIs prior to a fracture was associated with a decreased fracture risk (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.80) compared with non-use. Furthermore, the use of AChEIs corresponding to a proportion of days covered of 0.8 to 1.0 was found to be associated with a lower risk for osteoporotic fracture vs non-use (adjusted OR 0.76).

“In this study using large primary care databases, the use and treatment adherence to AChEIs were associated with a decreased risk of osteoporotic fractures in elderly AD patients,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Tamimi I, Nicolau B, Eimar H, et al. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and the risk of osteoporotic fractures: nested case-control study [Published online December 20, 2017]. Osteoporosis Int. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-017-4346-z.