As the prognosis of early
breast cancer patients improves, the long-term safety of
aromatase inhibitors (AIs) is increasingly important. In the present study, we retrospectively investigated the incidences of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and
bone fractures in a cohort of Chinese postmenopausal patients with
breast cancer. Data of postmenopausal patients with
breast cancer were collected. Among which, 70 patients received AIs
therapy (median follow-up of 32.5 months), 52 patients received
tamoxifen (TAM), and 89 patients received no endocrine
therapy (NE). Baseline characteristics, incidence of MSDs and
bone fractures were analyzed and compared. When compared with NE group (40.4 %, 36/89), more patients in AIs group developed MSDs (72.9 %, 51/70, adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 3.30, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 1.59-6.88, P = 0.001). But no difference was found between TAM group (36.5 %, 19/52, AOR = 0.70, 95 % CI = 0.32-1.52, P = 0.372) and NE group. About 39.7 months after initial AIs
therapy, nine patients in AI group developed
bone fractures in different sites, and the
bone fracture rate was significantly increased (12.9 %, 9/70, adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) = 20.08, 95 % CI = 1.72-234.08, P = 0.017) in comparison with NE group (1.1 %, 1/89). Moreover, the
bone fracture rate of TAM group was not different from NE group (1.9 %, 1/52, AHR = 2.64, 95 % CI = 0.14-48.73, P = 0.513). AIs
therapy may induce increased rates of MSDs and
bone fractures in Chinese population of postmenopausal
breast cancer patients, whereas TAM
therapy did not help reduce the incidences of MSDs and
bone fractures.