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Patients with osteoporosis are prone to fragility fractures. Evidence of the effects of active forms of vitamin D on hip fracture prevention is insufficient. We examined the association between vitamin D prescription and incidence of new fractures using the data of osteoporotic patients from the nationwide health insurance claims database of Japan. The follow-up period was 3 years after entry. The untreated patients were never prescribed vitamin D during follow-up (n = 422,454), and the treated patients had a vitamin D medication possession ratio of ≥ 0.5 at all time points (n = 169,774). Propensity score matching was implemented on these groups, yielding 105,041 pairs, and subsequently, the control and treatment groups were established and analyzed. The incidence of new fractures was significantly lower in the treatment group compared with the control group (6.25% vs. 5.69%, hazard ratio 0.936 [95% confidence interval 0.904–0.970], p < 0.001*). By site, hip fractures significantly decreased (0.89% vs. 0.42%, p < 0.001), but not vertebral and radial fractures. Subgroup analysis by vitamin D type showed a significantly lower incidence of total fractures only in alfacalcidol (hazard ratio 0.676 [95% confidence interval 0.628–0.728], p < 0.001*). The results suggest that vitamin D prescription was associated with a reduced incidence of hip fractures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the association between antidementia medication use and incidence of new vertebral, hip, and radial fractures in patients with Alzheimer's dementia (AD). We used the nationwide health insurance claims database of Japan from 2012 to 2019 and identified 12,167,938 patients aged ≥ 65 years who were newly registered from April 2012 to March 2016 and had verifiable data receipt from half-year before to 3 years after the registration. Among these patients, 304,658 were diagnosed with AD and we showed the prescription status of antidementia and osteoporosis medication among them. Propensity score matching was conducted for AD group with and without antidementia medication use, and 122,399 matched pairs were yielded. The incidence of hip fractures (4.0% vs. 1.9%, p < 0.001) and all clinical fractures (10.5% vs. 9.0%, p < 0.001) significantly decreased and that of radial fractures increased (0.6% vs. 1.0%, p < 0.001) in AD patients with antidementia medication use compared with AD patients without antidementia medication use. No significant difference was found in vertebral fractures (6.6% vs. 6.5%, p = 0.51). Overall, these results suggest a positive relationship between antidementia medication use and fracture prevention in patients with AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study aimed to clarify the coding and prescription rates for osteoporosis in distal radius fracture patients and to investigate the associated factors to help prevent subsequent osteoporotic fracture.Materials and Methods: Between 2014-2015, among 294,374 eligible individuals (42% female) aged 50-75 years in a health insurance claims database, we identified 192 individuals (mean age: 59.8 years, 74% female), counted the coding of distal radius fracture (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision (ICD-10) code: S525, S526), and determined if the patient had been assigned the code for osteoporosis and been prescribed osteoporosis medications. Logistic regression was performed to identify factors related to each rate.Results: The osteoporosis coding rate and osteoporosis medication prescription rate were 17.2% (n = 33) and 10.9% (n = 21), respectively. Most codes were assigned ≤ 3 months after injury (88%) at the distal radius fracture treatment facilities (84.8%). Patients who were assigned the code for osteoporosis or treated with osteoporosis medications were older (p = 0.08, p = 0.02, respectively), female (p = 0.05, p = 0.06, respectively) and having comorbidity (p = 0.02, p = 0.07, respectively). After adjustment, being female and having comorbidity remained the independent factors for the assignment of the code for osteoporosis (OR: 3.30, 95%, CI: 1.08-10.07, OR: 2.77, 95% CI: 1.24-6.12, respectively). No factor remained significant for the osteoporosis prescription. Active vitamin D analogues were most frequently prescribed medication (67%) followed by bisphosphonates (48%).Conclusion: The overall coding and prescription rates for osteoporosis after distal radius fracture were low, which suggested that physician adherence to the osteoporosis guideline was low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]