April 10, 2001 CHICAGO (AP) - A new study has muddled the question of whether cholesterol-lowering drugs reduce the risk of bone fractures from osteoporosis.
The study of 81,880 British fracture patients and a comparison group found no connection between the use of statins and the risk of broken bones.
The research was funded by Proctor & Gamble Pharmaceuticals, which makes the osteoporosis drug risedronate. That drug, sold as Actonel, is not a statin.
The findings follow three recent reports suggesting that statins, taken by about 8 million Americans to treat high cholesterol, might have bone-enhancing effects. Those findings were published last June in the Journal of the American Medical Association and The Lancet.
The new study appears in Wednesday's JAMA. It was led by Dr. Tjeerd-Pieter van Staa of the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, who owns P&G stock.
Although the results suggest statin users had a lower risk of hip fractures, the researchers said that is probably because some of them were overweight. Obesity is known to protect against osteoporosis.
Dr. Brian Strom of the University of Pennsylvania said van Staa's results ``shouldn't be impugned based just on a funding source.''
Strom noted this is not the first study to suggest statins have little or no bone-enhancing effect. Some of the previous negative studies also suggested a potentially positive effect on hip fractures, he said.
``The bottom line answer is we don't know yet'' what effect statins have on bones, Strom said.
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
