HIP FRACTURE AND PREDNISONE
Report #7299
A study from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville confirms a Japanese study done several years ago, showing a way to prevent one of the most serious side effects of taking cortisone-type drugs such as prednisone: osteonecrosis, destruction of bone such as in the hip joint, that often requires a hip replacement (1).
Prednisone and other cortisone-type drugs cause fat to be deposited in the blood vessels leading to the head of the hip bone, shutting off the blood supply to it and causing the hip bone to be damaged at its joint. Giving a drug to lower cholesterol, such as lovostatin, can prevent the fat from accumulating in the artery and blocking blood flow to the hip. Susceptibility to hip joint destruction is unaffected by how much or how long a person takes prednisone (2). Joint destruction is just as likely to be caused by taking a few prednisone pills as it is by taking the pills daily for many years. The people most likely to suffer hip damage with prednisone are those who drink alcohol.
Prednisone is given to treat skin rashes such as poison ivy and psoriasis, asthma, autoimmune diseases such as some types of arthritis and is used even to treat some types of cancers.
By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News
1) QJ Cui, GJ Wang, CC Su, G Balian. Lovastatin prevents steroid induced adipogenesis
and osteonecrosis. Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research : 344(NOV 1997):8-19.
Address GJ Wang, Univ Virginia, Sch Med, Dept Orthopaed Surg, Orthopaed Res Lab, Box 374,
Cobb Hall, Charlottesville, VA 22908 USA. 2) Colwell CW Jr, Robinson CA, Stevenson DD, Vint VC, Morris BA. Osteonecrosis of the
femoral head in patients with inflammatory arthritis or asthma receiving corticicosteroid
therapy. Orthopedics. 1996(Nov);19(11):941-6.
Reported 12/12/97; checked 8/9/05
Health Reports from The Dr. Gabe Mirkin Show and DrMirkin.com