Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs and systemic glucocorticoid use and risk of vertebral fractures in axial spondyloarthropathies: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Soroureddin S · 2026 · Clinical rheumatology
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What this paper found
Across ten studies, biologic and conventional disease-modifying drugs neither raised nor lowered the risk of spinal fractures in axial spondyloarthritis, and TNF and IL-17 drugs were no different from each other, but steroid tablets raised fracture risk by about 38 percent. Controlling inflammation does not by itself protect the spine from breaking, so bone health needs its own attention, and steroids are best kept to a minimum.
Why this is on the map
Clarifies a long-standing worry about biologics and fractures, and puts the risk where the data put it: on glucocorticoids.
On the map under these threads
DOI: 10.1007/s10067-026-08271-z · opens in a new tab. The full paper is on the publisher’s site, not here.
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