Osteoporosis is a common condition characterized by bone fragility and fractures. Hip fracture, leads to disability, morbidity, excess mortality and growing costs to health care systems. / Antiresorptive agents are used to treat osteoporosis and fractures; it is unknown if these agents are effective in preventing recurrent fractures in individuals who have sustained a hip fracture. / Using health services administrative databases, we ascertained the incidence of hip fractures and associated-mortality rates in the elderly population in Quebec, from 1996 to 2002 and, evaluated the effectiveness of antiresorptive agents for the prevention of recurrent hip fractures. / We identified 33,243 hip fractures. Age-adjusted annual rates of hip fractures decreased in women by 11% from 1996 to 2002 while they did not change in men. Overall one-year mortality rates were higher in men than in women (37% versus 24%), and remained stable over time. Patients exposed to antiresorptives had a 26% reduction in the rate of recurrent fractures (95% CI, 0.64--0.86) compared to patients who were not exposed to these agents. / Hip fractures remain a prevalent disease with serious complications. Further research is essential to confirm our results and, to clarify the association between increasing use of antiresorptive agents and the trend reversal in the incidence of hip fractures.

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