Opioid Use Increases Seniors’ Bone Fracture Risks
Taking potent painkillers called opioids in larger doses later in life increases the risks of painful bone fractures, new medical research says.
Vicodin (hydrocodone) and Oxycontin (oxycodoone) are prescription-strength narcotic painkillers taken by an estimated 8 million Americans for chronic pain from a variety of medical conditions. While they may provide effective short-term pain relief, long-term use of opioids for chronic pain can lead to constipation, nausea, and other serious side effects, as well as addiction.
Now, according to a Reuters news report, long-term opioid use may also result in falls caused by dizziness and sedation, particularly in elderly opioid users who are particularly vulnerable to broken bones and other painful, debilitating injuries from falls.
Bone fractures often require seniors to be hospitalized or moved into a nursing home within a month of the accident, the study found.
Researchers from the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle studied more than 2,300 older adults (60 years old and over) with chronic pain and found the risk of suffering a bone fracture was higher when patients were using an opioid for a prolonged period than when they were not taking an opioid, Reuters reports.
The risk of bone fractures increased as the doses of opioids increased, the study found. The annual rate of fractures among study participants who were not currently using opioids was just under 4 percent, while current users showed a fracture rate of 6 percent. Among patients currently taking opioid doses of at least 50 milligrams per day, the annual fracture rate was 10 percent.
The researcher team set 50 milligrams as the moderate range for opioid doses.
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