Fracture Risk for Diabetes Patients on Glitazones

Patients with diabetes are 43 percent more likely to have a fracture during periods when they are taking glitazones than when they are not, an analysis of doctors prescribing data suggests.

The new findings, from "real-world" patients -- an average of 10 years older than those in clinical trials -- follow several trials that also found glitazone use was associated with an increase in the rate of fractures.

Researchers studied 1,819 people prescribed at least one glitazone and with a record of at least one fracture, with the risk of fractures rising with increasing duration of glitazone use.

Study leader Dr. Ian Douglas, a research fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "The increased risk was observed with both rosiglitazone and pioglitazone and for a wide range of fractures including the hip. These findings should be taken into account in the wider debate surrounding the risks and benefits of treatment with glitazones."