Zoledronic Acid Contraindications Prevalence among Hip-Fractured Patients Aged 75 Years or Over Hospitalized in an...

Zoledronic acid (ZA) is an antiosteoporotic drug that has been proven to reduce mortality after a hip fracture (HF). ZA is however underused with older HF patients. One possible cause may be the high prevalence of severe renal failure and hypocalcemia which contraindicate ZA administration. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of these 2 contraindications in patients aged 75 years or older admitted into an orthogeriatric (OG) unit after a low-energy HF. The secondary objective was to assess the prevalence of situations in which ZA must be used with caution.

Our retrospective descriptive monocentric study was performed in an OG unit on a cohort of elderly patients hospitalized for HF from August 2015 to August 2017. Prevalence of hypocalcemia lower than 2 mmol/L and Cockcroft creatinine clearance lower than 35 mL/min was recorded.

Among the 194 patients admitted for HF, 136 patients (mean age 86 ± 5.6 years; 101 women) were included. The mean length of hospital stay was 15 ± 9 days. 111 (81.5%) had no contraindications to ZA administration. More than 80% presented situations in which ZA had to be used with caution, including 25(OH)D deficiency (20%).

The majority of subjects aged 75 years or older admitted to hospital after an HF seem to have no contraindication for ZA administration during their immediate postoperative hospital stay. The hospitalization period after HF repair gives the opportunity to give most of them this treatment to improve their prognosis, taking into account situations in which ZA must be used with caution.