Thiazide Diuretics and Osteoporosis: Time for a Clinical Trial?

Excerpt

Fracture of the proximal femur (hip) is the osteoporotic fracture with the most pronounced adverse medical and economic consequences. This injury takes its greatest toll among persons 65 years of age or older, a group that in the United States incurs more than 200 000 hip fractures annually, resulting in direct medical care costs of approximately $6 billion (1). In this population, the age-specific incidence of hip fracture doubles every 5 to 7 years, so that between the ages of 65 and 90 years there is a 20-fold increase in incidence (2). Over this same age range, proximal femur bone