Risk for Hip Fracture After 5 Years of Bisphosphonate Use

Bisphosphonates clearly lower hip fracture risk during the first 3 to 5 years of use in at-risk patients. The benefit of use beyond that point is less clear, and some data suggest no additional benefit or even harm with longer use, which has led to recommendations to consider discontinuing use at 5 years. In this retrospective study from an integrated California health system, researchers identified nearly 30,000 women (median age, 71) who had completed 5 years of bisphosphonate therapy and for whom 5 more years of follow-up data were available.

During those subsequent 5 years, ≈2% of women experienced incident hip fractures, and 28% had fractures of any kind. Hip fracture incidence was assessed for three groups: those who discontinued bisph…