Oral bisphosphonates do not increase the risk of severe upper gastrointestinal complications: a nested case–control study

Table 1 Selected tracts of the 804 cases of upper gastrointestinal complications and 12,787 controls

	Case patients	Controls	p-value^*
BPs exposure ^†
No use	709 (88.2%)	11,345 (88.7%)	0.6029
Current use	38 (4.7%)	643 (5.0%)
Past use	57 (7.1%)	799 (6.2%)
Type prescribed during the current period
Alendronate	30 (79.0%)	412 (64.1%)	0.0620
Risedronate	8 (21.0%)	231 (35.9%)
Regimen prescribed during the current period
Weekly	37 (97.4%)	631 (98.1%)	0.7376
Daily	1 (2.6%)	12 (1.9%)
Use of other medicaments ^‡
Antidepressants	139 (17.3%)	1,841 (14.4%)	0.0242
Antithrombotic	240 (29.9%)	3,174 (24.8%)	0.0014
Gastroprotective agents	211 (26.2%)	1,993 (15.6%)	<0.0001
Corticosteroids	65 (8.1%)	533 (4.2%)	<0.0001
Statins	41 (5.1%)	724 (5.7%)	0.5021
Calcium channel blockers	105 (13.1%)	1,548 (12.1%)	0.4223
Other antihypertensive drugs	371 (46.1%)	5,294 (41.4%)	0.0082
Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs	170 (21.1%)	1,529 (12.0%)	<0.0001
Co-morbidity ^#
0	629 (78.2%)	11,531 (90.2%)	<0.0001
≥1	175 (21.8%)	1,256 (9.8%)	<0.0001

BPs: Bisphosphonates.
^†A patient was defined current user if at least one prescription of BPs was refilled within 30 days or less prior the index date. A patient was defined past user if at least one prescription of BPs was refilled later than 31 days prior the index date. No users were patients who during the entire observational period did not experience BPs dispensation.
^‡Measured over the 60-day period prior the index date.
^#Charlson comorbidity index score measured in the six months prior the entry into the cohort and during the entire observational period.
^*According to chi-square test.

ISSN: 1471-230X