Sick in the bones or sick in the head?
Stephanie Taylor
Issue date: 2/5/08 Section: Technology
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VANCOUVER (CUP) -- A new study on osteoporosis in Canadians has found a link between antidepressant drugs and higher instances of osteoporosis.
The study focused on the use of a widely prescribed group of antidepressants known as selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in patients over 50 years of age. It was found that patients taking SSRIs doubled their risk of incurring osteoporosis-related injuries, said David Goltzman, director of the Metabolic Bone Disease Centre at the McGill University Health Centre, and head of the study.
"SSRIs were associated with a two-fold risk of developing minimal trauma or osteoporotic fractures," said Goltzman. "The absolute risk of developing fractures was 13.2 per cent in the individuals taking SSRIs and 6.6 per cent in the individuals not taking SSRIs."
The study was carried out as part of the ongoing Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study (CaMOS), which is co-ordinated through nine institutions across Canada. Researchers examined a cohort of patients 50 and older that has been monitored by CaMOS for the last 10 years.
The researchers were aware of other age-related factors associated with osteoporosis, but were still able to establish a link with SSRIs after accounting for other possible variables.
"Increased age, female sex, sedentary lifestyle, are all known to predispose to osteoporosis, including osteoporosis in the CaMOS population," Goltzman explained. "Because we had recorded all this data in the CaMOS database as well as data on the bone density of these people, their frequency of falls, we were able to correct for all of this."
He added that SSRIs were still associated with an increased risk of low-trauma fractures.
Goltzman also made reference to studies involving insurance company records of medications and injuries.
"Previous studies in administrative databases, [such as] large databases accumulated usually by governments or insurance companies to track health care usage and costs, had indicated that there was a relationship between SSRIs and osteoporosis," he said.
While the nature of the SSRI link is unknown, there are several theories that researchers are considering.
"SSRIs alter serotonin transport into cells and previous work in vitro and in animals had found that serotonin transport into bone cells and action in bone cells seems to be important to make bone," Goltzman said.
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