A retrospective analysis of anti-osteoporosis medication trends among patients under 50 years old in nine major regions of China from 2016 to 2019.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the national trends in osteoporosis prescriptions among Chinese adult outpatients aged less than 50 years with osteoporosis, from 2016 to 2019.

Patients and methods: Prescriptions for adult outpatients with osteoporosis from hospitals in nine major areas were extracted from the database of the Hospitals Prescription Analysis Cooperative Project. Trends in the annual prescriptions and expenditure of osteoporosis were analyzed.

Results: The number of osteoporosis hospital visits showed an increasing trend year by year from 18,412 in 2016 to 23,447 in 2019 (P = 0.029), and the corresponding cost increased from 2,083,872.94 Chinese yuan (CNY) to 2,643,508.59 CNY in 2019 (P = 0.032). The result showed that the share of newer osteoporotic use of medicines increased continuously, accounting for 34.3% of prescriptions and 26.8% of expenditures in 2019. The study found that in osteoporosis hospital visits under 50 years of age, the use of medicine increased year by year. However, bone resorption inhibitors and bone formation promoters in this group did not change significantly, accounting for only small proportion.

Conclusion: The development of osteoporosis prescription in this study reflected the current situation of research in China. Meanwhile, in this study, we also investigated the epidemiology of osteoporosis in China in patients under 50 years of age, for whom the incidence of osteoporosis showed an increasing trend, which reminded us to accelerate the prevention of osteoporosis.