Effects of oral anticoagulants on bone health (systematic literature review)

Abstract

Background. Osteoporosis is actually today's problem, as it affects the quality and length of life, and increases the risk of fragility fractures, which leads to significant medical, social, and economic problems. One of the reasons for the development of secondary osteoporosis is the use of vitamin K and new oral anticoagulants, the use of which is increasing. The purpose of this review was to analyze of literature data regarding the impact of oral anticoagulants on the bone state, the risk of osteoporosis and its complications in order to improve the awareness of doctors of various specialties. Materials and methods. The lite­rature review was carried out based on the analysis of scientometric databases PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus using the keywords “vitamin K antagonists”; “warfarin; “osteoporosis”; “osteoporotic fracture”; “non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants”; “systematic review” for the period 2013-2023, but it did not exclude key works that were published earlier. The search was performed by two independent authors. 160 sources were selec­ted for analysis, of which 53 were used that met the search criteria. ­Results. The ana­lysis of researches showed that the effects of vitamin K antagonists and new oral anticoagulants on bone and the risk of fragility fractures are controversial. Nevertheless, the new oral anticoagulants in comparison to vitamin K antagonists seem to have a less negative effect on bone and the lowest risk of fragility fractures. The mechanism of such influence is still under examination. Conclusions. Most studies have demonstrated the adverse effects of vitamin K antagonists on bone health. A lower risk of fractures was observed with new oral anticoagulants than with vitamin K antagonists, in particular, warfarin. Taking into account the analyzed data of the literature, it is recommended to also assess the risk of fragility fractures when prescribing vitamin K antagonists or new oral anticoagulants.