Thyroid drug can cause osteoporosis

People taking one of the world’s top-selling drugs for an underactive thyroid are at risk of developing osteoporosis.

The drug, levothyroxine, is the standard remedy to treat hypothyroidism, but it’s also prescribed to people with normal thyroid activity.

But anyone who takes it raises their risk of developing osteoporosis, the disease that weakens bones, say researchers from Johns Hopkins University.

They assessed the health of 81 people with an average age of 73 who were taking levothyroxine and were compared with 364 non-users for six years.  Over that time, the people taking the drug experienced greater bone loss and density.

The researchers were surprised to discover that many people prescribed the drug had normal thyroid function.  “A significant proportion of thyroid hormone prescriptions may be given to older adults without hypothyroidism,” said Elena Ghotbi, one of the researchers.

Around 20 percent of the adult population suffers from hypothyroidism, where the thyroid gland, which governs the body’s metabolism, is underactive.

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