Statins linked to lower risk of fracture

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

The use of statins is linked to a 36 per cent decrease in the risk of a fracture, according to a new study.
Statins are generally prescribed to lower cholesterol but they may have other benefits. A team in Boston, USA, now reveals that statins can help improve bone health. In a group of over 91,000 individuals, 28,000 were receiving statins, another 3,000 or so were getting non-statin lipid-lowering medication, and the rest were not on any kind of medication to lower their cholesterol.

Those on statins proved to have a 32 per cent decreased risk of bone fracture compared to being on other lipid-lowering therapy, and a 36 per cent reduced risk if compared to being on no lipid-lowering therapy at all. This is one of the largest studies to date of the effect of statins on bone health. It may be that statins improve blood vessel function which, in turn, promotes bone formation.

Source
Archives of Internal Medicine 26th September 2005 Volume 165 pages 2007-2012