The Risk of Trigeminal Neuralgia Following Osteoporosis

Background and objectives: Managing people with trigeminal neuralgia (TN) and osteoporosis is challenging due to their debilitating conditions. Currently, the exact association between TN and osteoporosis in patients remains unknown, although there is potential overlapping of pathophysiological mechanisms. In response, we calculated TN risk in patients who have osteoporosis. Materials and Methods: 45,393 patients aged over 50 years diagnosed with osteoporosis were matched with 45,393 non-osteoporosis patients aged over 50 years (1:1 ratio) who were used as the control group, using data from 1996 to 2010 from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. The cumulative incidences of subsequent TN and the hazard ratio were estimated using Cox proportional hazards modeling and the Kaplan-Meier method, respectively. Results: Among the total sample, 333 patients were diagnosed with TN during the follow-up period: 205 in the osteoporosis cohort and 128 in the control cohort. Through covariate adjustment, the overall TN incidence showed a 1.80-fold increase in the osteoporosis cohort in comparison with the control cohort (0.60 vs. 0.18 per 1000 person-years, respectively). The High Charlson Comorbidity Index, hypertension, and migraines were risk factors of TN. Conclusions: Osteoporosis patients had a higher TN risk than that of the control cohort. Therefore, early recognition of pain and symptoms in osteoporotic people may help to identify possible TN patients who need prompt therapy.