BACKGROUND

This systematic review and meta-analysis assessed the role of teriparatide in improving hip fracture healing and function to provide a clinical guide.

METHODS

The systematic literature review identified randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and controlled studies evaluating teriparatide for elderly hip fractures. A meta-analysis was performed using RevMan version 5.3.

RESULTS

This study included two RCTs and four retrospective studies comprising 607 patients, with 269 and 338 patients in the teriparatide and control groups, respectively. The quality of these six studies was moderate. Compared to the control group, teriparatide reduced the time to union (weighted mean difference (WMD) = -1.95; 95% confidence interval (CI): -3.23--0.68; = 0.003) but did not improve the rate of fracture union at 3 months (odds ratio (OR) = 1.46; 95% CI: 0.50-4.24; = 0.49) or 6 months (OR = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.44-1.81; = 0.75). In addition, teriparatide did not decrease the complications, need for reoperation, mortality, rate of deformity after fracture healing, and subsequent fracture or improve hip function.

CONCLUSIONS

The current limited evidence did not support that teriparatide improves fracture healing in hip fractures, due to study heterogeneity and various sources of biases. Further high-quality, large-sample trials are needed. This trial is registered with PROSPERO with registration number CRD42020152205.