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VIEW ALL NEWSTamoxifen may curb fracture risk in some women
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a study, researchers found that use of the breast cancer drug tamoxifen was associated with a marked reduction in fractures associated with the chronic bone-thinning disease osteoporosis.
Although tamoxifen has been shown to increase bone mineral density in clinical trials, it is less clear whether this significantly affects fracture rates.
This led Dr. Andrew L. Cooke, of CancerCare Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, and colleagues to conduct a population-based, case-control study to examine whether tamoxifen use is associated with osteoporosis-related fractures.
Using data from the Manitoba Department of Health, the team identified 11,096 women at least 50 years old with fractures, and compared each with three controls without fracture, matched for age, ethnicity, and co-morbid illnesses.
Overall, 324 fracture "cases" (2.9 percent) and 1123 controls (3.4 percent) had a breast cancer diagnosis. Approximately 72 percent of breast cancer patients reported using tamoxifen at some time. Current tamoxifen use was identified in 105 cases (0.9 percent) and 459 controls (1.4 percent).
According to Cooke and colleagues, current tamoxifen use was associated with lower rates of osteoporotic fractures. Remote or recent past tamoxifen use was not related to osteoporotic fractures.
Women with hip fracture were significantly less likely to be current tamoxifen users, the investigators found. Results for wrist fractures and spine fractures showed a similar trend but were not statistically significant.
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