Are SSRIs Linked to Fracture Risk in Menopausal Women Without Mental Illness?

Although psychiatric disorders and use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may represent independent risk factors for bone fracture, whether SSRIs elevate fracture risk in women without mental illness is unknown. In a retrospective cohort analysis using a claims database of 373,325 women aged 40 to 64 without known mental illness who initiated SSRIs or H2 antagonists/proton-pump inhibitors (H2A/PPIs) for “nonpsychiatric” indications between 1998 and 2010, investigators assessed subsequent risk for hip, humerus, radius, or ulna fractures within ≤5 years.

At the index date, >82% of women in both cohorts were younger than 60. Benzodiazepine use was identified in 18.5% and 9.1% of SSRI and H2A/PPI users, respectively. As early as …