Zoledronic acid cuts mortality after hip fracture

In patients with low-trauma hip fracture, an annual infusion of zoledronic acid starting within 90 days of surgical repair of the fracture may decrease the risk of new fractures and improve survival, according to a study published online Sept. 17 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Kenneth W. Lyles, MD, of the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and colleagues randomly assigned 1,065 patients to receive either yearly intravenous zoledronic acid or placebo starting within 90 days after surgical repair of a hip fracture and followed them for a median of 1.9 years.

The researchers found that rates of any new clinical hip fracture were lower in the zoledronic acid group than in the placebo group (8.6 % versus 13.9%). They also found that the zoledronic acid group had a 28% lower risk of death from any cause, but that they also were more likely to experience side effects such as pyrexia, myalgia, and bone and musculoskeletal pain.

Lyles KW, Colón-Emeric CS,Magaziner JS, et al. Zoledronic Acid and Clinical Fractures and Mortality after Hip Fracture. N Engl J Med. 2007, Sep 26; [Epub ahead of print].