Warfarin Institute of America
DEDICATED TO YOUR HEALTH
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WARFARIN AND BROKEN BONES
A study by Gage et al looked at the relationship between long-term warfarin and osteoporosis-related fractures in elderly people with atrial fibrillation. They compared the records of people on Medicare who were hospitalized in all 50 states during 1998 and 1999. The records of 7587 people who were not prescribed warfarin were compared with those of 4461 people who were on long-term warfarin. They looked for people with fractures of the hip, wrist and spine. This long-term warfarin use was associated with significantly more fractures in men than women. There was no association with fractures in people who took warfarin for less than a year. The older a person was, the more likely they were to have a fracture. High fall risk was also associated with more fractures as was hyperthyroidism, neuropsychiatric disease and alcoholism. There were fewer fractures in African-Americans than other races and in those who took beta-blockers. Beta blockers are the drugs whose generic names end in –olol. Examples of these are Toprol (metoprolol), and atenolol.
Remember that a strict interpretation of these results would only apply to men with atrial fibrillation. However, there is no reason to suspect that the results would not apply to others (particularly men) taking long-term warfarin for other reasons.
References:
Gage BF et al. Risk of osteoporotic fractures in elderly patients taking warfarin: results from the national registration of atrial fibrillation 2. Arch Intern Med. 2006;166:241-6
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Last updated June 13, 2007