Highlight of MAY (2023) ：The main focus of this month's research is on the treatment and post-treatment prediction of lung cancer, as well as the recent epidemiological analysis of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis.-National Health Insurance Administration Ministry of Health and Welfare-About NHI-Journal Articles Using NHI Research Data-HighLights

Highlight of MAY (2023) ：The main focus of this month's research is on the treatment and post-treatment prediction of lung cancer, as well as the recent epidemiological analysis of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis.

The top three research areas for this month comprise a total of 10 publications on tumors, 8 publications on the circulatory system, and 4 publications on musculoskeletal issues. These findings have been published in the "Journal of Cancer" and "International Osteoporosis" journals.
Selected Paper in May：Antihypertensive medications, Nifedipine may reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
　　Hypertension and osteoporosis are common diseases among the elderly. Some hypertension medications may increase bone loss, while others may have a protective effect. Animal experiments have found that Nifedipine, one of calcium channel blocker (CCBs) can reduce bone loss. However, there were few related population-based epidemiological studies.
　　The research team from Kaohsiung National Military Hospital, the National Defense Medical Center of the Military General Hospital and Fu Jen Catholic University used health insurance claims data from 2000 to 2013 to include the 1,125 patients who used Nifedipine as the exposure group and include 4,900 patients who used other CCBs as the control group. The result showed that the risk of osteoporosis in the exposure group 0.44 times lower than the control group, indicating a protective effect of Nifedipine.
　　The author reminds readers that this study was not a randomized trial. There were many factors related to osteoporosis (such as smoking, vitamin D, obesity, nutritional status, etc.) that cannot be obtained and were not included in statistical analysis. The diagnosis of osteoporosis can only be based on the International Classification of Diseases code that may cause some bias. And the patients returning home may not adhere to the prescriptions. However, these two limitations should be similar in the exposure group and the control group, so they should not affect the results of this study.

Chang CM, Chen YC, Wu WT, et al. Association between clinical use of nifedipine and the risk of osteoporosis: a nationwide retrospective cohort study. Osteoporos Int 2023;34(7):1223-1230.