Potent Topical Steroids Are Associated with Osteoporosis and Fractures

Prolonged use of potent topical corticosteroids can have systemic effects — for example, suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis. But whether topical steroids can cause osteoporosis is unclear. Researchers in Demark used national medical registries to address this question.

During a recent 15-year period, 723,000 adults received prescriptions for high-potency or very high–potency topical steroids; for this study, doses of each topical steroid were converted to an equipotent dose of mometasone furoate. High cumulative exposures were associated with significantly increased risk for diagnosis of osteoporosis or a major osteoporotic fracture (compared with a reference standard of 200 g–500 g of mometasone furoate 0.1% cream or ointment — …