Heart drugs that affect bone.

There have been important developments in our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the development of osteoporosis, and several of these mechanisms also underlie atherosclerosis. Drugs given to treat cardiovascular disease may impact on bone health in either a beneficial or a harmful way. There is evidence that nitrates are beneficial to bone, but evidence for the benefit of statins, thiazide diuretics, and β-blockers is weaker. By contrast, it is likely to be that some drugs such as loop-acting diuretics are harmful to bone, whereas evidence for harm caused by drugs such as warfarin is weaker. These observations point towards opportunities for new drug development for bone diseases, and possibly the development of treatments that will benefit more than one disease.