A study of COPD patients by researchers from Johhs Hopkins found that use of inhaled corticosteroids for six months increased the risk of bone fracture by 27%. The researchers reviewed data from both double-blind and observational studies involving a total of more than 85,000 patients using inhaled fluticasone or budesonide.
“It was surprising to find an increased risk of fractures in this study where two-thirds of the participants were men over the age of 60,” author Sonal Singh says. “It really makes us wonder what is happening to women with COPD who use inhalers, because older women are already at a much higher fracture risk than men.” Singh stated that the study did not include asthma patients, who are generally younger.
Singh expressed concern that, “There are millions of COPD patients who use long-term inhaled corticosteroids in the United States and millions more across the world.The number of people who are getting fractures because of these medications is quite large.”
The study was published in the online version of Thorax.
Read the Johns Hopkins press release.
Read the Thorax abstract.
