Pharmacological management, and potentially inappropriate prescriptions in patients with osteoporosis

Background The treatment of osteoporosis involves medications that reduce the risk of fractures, but some medications can decrease bone density. The aim was to identify the treatments, comorbidities, and prescriptions related to reducing bone mineral density in patients with osteoporosis.Research design and methods A cross-sectional study that identified patterns of anti-osteoporotic drug prescriptions for outpatient use and potentially inappropriate prescriptions for patients with osteoporosis based on the drug-dispensing database of 8.5 million people in Colombia. All patients ≥65 years with a diagnosis of osteoporosis were included. Results A total of 16,362 patients with osteoporosis were identified. They had a median age of 74.4 years, and 47.9% received anti-osteoporotic therapy, especially bisphosphonates (41.6%), and 86.5% received calcium and/or vitamin D supplement. 41.6% of those who had a history of bone fractures were prescribed anti-osteoporotic drugs. Potentially inappropriate prescriptions, especially corticosteroids at doses greater than 5mg prednisolone equivalent (4.4%), were found in 41.4% of cases and were more common in older patients and those with a history of fractures or with cardiovascular, digestive, neurological, psychiatric or neoplastic comorbidities. Conclusions A significant proportion of patients had potentially inappropriate prescriptions, especially older patients, those with certain comorbidities, and those receiving comedication with antirheumatic drugs.