Hospital A team from Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, studied the impact of statin use on women aged 60 years and over. They identified 928 cases of broken bones and compared them with 2,747 women who had suffered no fractures. Women who had used statins on at least 13 occasions in the previous two years had a decreased risk of fractures. The findings were echoed in a separate study at St Thomas' Hospital, London. BMD compared to women of a similar age who were not taking the drugs.
Osteoporosis affects one in three women and one in ten men.
The NOS looks forward to further studies investigating the effect of statins on bone formation and a potential role in the management of the disease. Dr Jon Tobias, of the rheumatology department at Bristol Royal Infirmary said that statins would probably be no more effective than drugs currently prescribed for osteoporosis. In addition, recent research suggests that statins may act by stimulating the release of certain growth factors, leading to enhanced production of osteoblasts, which are the cells responsible for laying down new bone. Thus, statins may be capable of altering the balance between bone deposition and breakdown, leading to a net gain in bone. The research was published in The Lancet medical journal.