An updated analysis of opioids increasing the risk of fractures

To assess the relationship between opioid therapy for chronic noncancer pain and fracture risk by a meta-analysis of cohort studies and case-control studies.

The included cohort studies and case-control studies were identified by searching the PubMed and EMBASE databases from their inception until May 24, 2019. The outcome of interest was a fracture. This information was independently screened by two authors. When the heterogeneity among studies was significant, a random effects model was used to determine the overall combined risk estimate.

In total, 12 cohort studies and 6 case-control studies were included. We used the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) to evaluate the quality of the included literature, and 14 of the studies were considered high-quality studies. The overall relative risk of opioid therapy and fractures was 1.78 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.53-2.07). Subgroup analyses revealed sources of heterogeneity, sensitivity analysis was stable, and no publication bias was observed.

The meta-analysis showed that the use of opioids significantly increased the risk of fracture.