The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 274 No 7348 p538
7 May 2005

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Fracture risk in respiratory disease not due to treatment

Risk of bone fracture is increased in patients with severe respiratory disease who are treated with inhaled corticosteroids but the increase may not be the result of drug treatment, new research suggests.

Scientists studied 108,754 UK adults who had sustained one or more osteoporotic fractures and found that those using high doses of inhaled corticosteroids were at greater risk of fracture. “However, this was explained by the severity of the respiratory disease and not by the effects of the inhaled corticosteroids,” said Frank de Vries, University of Ultrecht, and lead author of the study.

The researchers identify mechanisms that have been used to explain the relationship between respiratory disease and fracture risk, including physical activity, smoking, exposure to sunlight and chronic inflammation (European Respiratory Journal 2005;25:879).