Diuretics Help Hips

Diuretics may be used to treat more than just hypertension. Results from the Rotterdam Study found that diuretics may help elderly people prevent hip fractures. For the hip research, investigators followed 7891 people aged 55 and older, predominantly women, for as long as 9 years. During that period, they kept track of the participants? use of thiazide diuretics and the incidence of hip fractures.

The study results indicated that the group of participants that took the diuretics for >1 year had half as many hip fractures, compared with the group that did not take them. Within 4 months of stopping the diuretics, the fracture rate returned to normal. Also, the benefit was more pronounced in people over age 80. Because most of the subjects were women, however, the researchers were unable to determine whether men or women benefited differently.