Risk of Fractures and Subsequent Mortality in Alcohol-Related Cirrhosis: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Alcohol-related cirrhosis is linked to increased risk of fractures, but this has seldom been quantified nationally or compared against control subjects without cirrhosis. Here, we deter-mined the rate and risk of fractures and postfracture mortality in patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis compared with individuals from the general population. METHODS: In this nationwide population-based cohort study, data were retrieved from the Swedish Na-tional Patient Registry on 25,090 patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis from 1969-2016. Pa-tients were matched for sex, age, and municipality with 239,458 control subjects from the Swedish Total Population Registry. Cox regression models were fitted to investigate the rates of fractures and postfracture mortality. The cumulative incidence of fractures was calculated while accounting for competing risks (death or liver transplantation). RESULTS: A total of 48,635 fractures occurred during 3,468,860 person-years of follow-up. Patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis had a higher fracture rate per 1000 person-years (38.7) than control subjects (13.3; adjusted hazard ratio, 3.8; 95% confidence interval, 3.6-3.9). The cumulative incidence of fractures was elevated for patients the first 19 years of follow-up, with a 5-year risk of 9.6% compared with 4.5% for control subjects. Patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis had a higher postfracture mortality rate compared with control subjects who also experienced a fracture, at both 30 days (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.4-1.8) and 1 year (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.7-2.0). CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol-related cirrhosis is associated with an almost 4-fold increased fracture rate, a higher risk of fractures the first 2 decades after initial diagnosis, and higher postfracture mortality. Preventive interventions to reduce modifiable fracture risk factors in this population are justified.

Automated summary

This study analyzed the epidemiological characteristics of alcohol-related cirrhosis in a case-control study and the association between alcohol-related cirrhosis and the risk of fractures and postfracture mortality. The results showed that patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis had a higher incidence of fractures and higher postfracture mortality compared to the control group. Therefore, preventive interventions to reduce modifiable fracture risk factors in this population are justified.