Abstract
Previous studies have confirmed that hyperthyroidism is one of the common causes of secondary osteoporosis and can aggravate the disease severity in patients with osteoporosis. This study is mainly based on the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database and through big data analysis shows that combining traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment can help the health of patients with hyperthyroidism and osteoporosis. There were 4980 patients who received TCM treatment and 19,920 controls who did not receive TCM treatment selected from Taiwan National Health Insurance Database in a 4:1 ratio of gender, age, and index year. Cox proportional hazards analyzes were performed to compare fracture, inpatient, and all-cause mortality over an average follow-up period of 15 years. A total of 4745/5823/3487 enrolled subjects (19.06%/23.39%/14.00%) suffered fractures/hospitalization/all-cause death which TCM group was 452/987/511 (15.10%/19.82%/10.26%); control group was 3993/4836/2976 (20.05%/24.28%/14.94%). Cox proportional hazards regression analysis showed that subjects in the TCM group had lower fractures, hospital mortality, and all-cause mortality (adjusted HR = 0.563; 95% confidence intervals [CI] = 0.392-0.680, P < .001; adjusted HR = 0.614; 95% CI = 0.474-0.714, P < .001; adjusted HR = 0.691; 95% CI = 0.569-0.792, P < .001). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the cumulative risk of fracture, hospitalization and death were lower in TCM group with significant differences (all log-rank P < .001). The analysis of this study shows that patients with hyperthyroidism and osteoporosis even with comorbidity of atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, or heart failure combined with TCM treatment are associated with a lower risk of fractures, hospitalization, or all-cause death, providing clinicians with a treatment option.