Diabetes drugs connected to fractures

Diabetes drugs pioglitazone and rosiglitazone, accounting for 21% of oral diabetes treatments in the USA, may cause slower bone formation and faster bone loss, leading to fractures, a study by the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, reports.

The study considered 1,020 patients with diabetes who were diagnosed with fractures by UK general practitioners between 1994 and 2005, compared to up to four equivalent control patients without fractures each. It found that patients taking the two drugs were two to three times more likely to suffer hip or other non-spine fractures. Risks increased for people undergoing the treatment for longer periods.