Treatment of osteoporosis and hip fractures in a Spanish health area

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this longi- tudinal retrospective ecological study was to evaluate the consumption of anti-osteoporotic medications and the evolution of pertrochanteric and femoral neck (FN), subtrochanteric and dia- physeal hip fractures between 2005 and 2010. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were ob- tained from our Hospital Admissions Service (ab- solute number of fractures) and the Technical Di- rectorate of Pharmacy (defined daily dose and ab- solute number of containers consumed of bispho- sphonates (BP), raloxifene and strontium ranelate). RESULTS: The overall incidence density of FN in 2005-2010 was 124.8 new cases per 100,000 per- sons per year. BP consumption increased between 2005 and 2010 to a peak of 70,452 containers con- sumed in 2010, while consumption of raloxifene declined. The number of subtrochanteric and dia- physeal fractures remained stable, but FN reached a peak in 2008 (N = 350) and fell thereafter (N = 284 in 2010). The percentage reduction in the number of FN in the period studied (2009: -14% and 2010: - 11% compared to 2005) corresponds temporally with the increased consumption of BP (2009: +76% and 2010: +84% compared to 2005). CONCLUSIONS: We found an inverse temporal association between the annual consumption of BP and the annual number of FN during 2005-2010. This is probably related to the cumulative effect of BP, although, given the limitations of the study de- sign, other studies are needed to confirm our data.