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Fracture Rate Higher Following Stem Cell Transplant

Findings in patients undergoing stem cell transplant versus general U.S. population

FRIDAY, March 20, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The incidence rate of fractures is significantly higher in patients following hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) compared to the general U.S. population, according to a study published online March 16 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Xerxes N. Pundole, M.D., from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues retrospectively studied 7,620 patients (>18 years of age) who underwent HSCT between 1997 and 2011. Fracture rates per person-year were compared with those of the U.S. general population by using estimated rates from the 1994 National Health Interview Survey and the 2004 National Hospital Discharge Survey.

The researchers found that 602 patients (8 percent) developed a fracture. Factors significantly associated with fracture included age, underlying disease, and HSCT type. Following HSCT, age- and sex-specific fracture incidence rates were significantly greater than those of the U.S. general population in almost all subgroups, including an eight-times greater risk in females and a seven- to nine-times greater risk in males aged 45 to 64.

“The incidence of fractures is compellingly higher after HSCT,” the authors write.

One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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