Antidepressant use in seniors linked to risk for hip fracture

(HealthDay)—Among older adults, antidepressant users sustain more hip fractures than nonusers both before and after therapy initiation, according to a study published online Jan. 2 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Jon Brännström, M.D., from Umeå University in Sweden, and colleagues examined the correlation between antidepressant drug treatment and hip fracture starting one year before treatment initiation in a nationwide cohort study. A total of 204,072 individuals aged 65 years or older who had a prescription of antidepressants filled between July 1, 2006, and Dec. 31, 2011, were matched in a 1-to-1 ratio with control participants not prescribed antidepressants.

The researchers found that in the year before and the year after initiation of therapy, antidepressant users sustained more than twice as many hip fractures as nonusers (2.8 versus 1.1 percent and 3.5 versus 1.3 percent, respectively). Adjusted analyses revealed the highest odds ratios for the correlation between antidepressant use and hip fracture 16 to 30 days before the prescription was filled (odds ratio, 5.76). The highest odds ratios were also seen 16 to 30 days before treatment in subgroup analyses of age groups, men and women, and individual antidepressants, with no clear dose-response relationship.

"For most older adults, the toll of untreated depression will likely outweigh the potential risks associated with antidepressant use, including falls or fractures," write the authors of an accompanying editorial.

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