Fosamax and Femur Fractures- Fosamax Leading to Femur Fractures in Women

Bisphosphonates may increase risk for atypical leg fractures.


Bloomberg News (2/23, Randall) reports bisphosphonates "designed to prevent bone breaks in older women may actually increase the risk of a rare form of leg fractures," suggests a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

According to the Los Angeles Times (2/23, Roan) "Booster Shots" blog, researchers examined "205,466 women age 68 and older with osteoporosis who took a bisphosphonate for several years and identified 716 women who had an atypical fracture." When compared with a control group of "3,580 women who had not taken bisphosphonates, the long-term use of the drug was linked to 2.7 times higher odds of hospitalization for an atypical fracture." Overall, in women with "five or more years of bisphosphonate use, an atypical fracture occurred in 0.13% of them in the subsequent year."

WebMD (2/22, Boyles) added that last fall, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would "require label changes on bisphosphonates to warn of a 'possible risk of atypical thigh bone fracture' in long-term users." Although it is "not clear whether bisphosphonates are the cause, atypical femur fractures...have been predominantly reported in patients taking bisphosphonates," agency officials noted in a news release issued at the time