Powerful diuretics, commonly prescribed drugs for heart failure and hypertension, can also steal calcium from the bones and cause significant bone loss in men taking them, study finds.

Between 2000 and 2002, Dr. Lionel S. Lim of Griffin Hospital, in Derby, Connecticut and colleagues tested the bone mineral density levels of 3,269 men older than age 65. Patients received follow-up examinations about 4.6 years later. The researchers collected data on medication use and found that 84 men were continuous users of loop diuretics, 181 were intermittent users and 3,004 were non-users.

At the end of the study, the researchers found that the average annual rate of decline in total hip bone mineral density was -0.78 among continuous users, -0.58 among intermittent users and -0.33 among nonusers.

“Compared with rates of hip bone loss among non-users of diuretics, adjusted rates of loss were about twofold greater among intermittent loop diuretic users and about 2.5-fold greater among continuous loop diuretic users,” wrote Dr. Lim and colleagues in the study.

These findings come to reinforce previous studies, which have found an association between the use of powerful diuretics and increased risk of fractures.

“We conclude that loop diuretic use in older men is associated with increased rates of hip bone loss. Our findings suggest that health care providers should take into account loop diuretic use when evaluating older men for risk factors for bone loss and fracture risk,” the study wrote.

The findings were similar for change at the femoral neck and trochanter, the researchers said.

The study, supported by the national Institute of Health, was published in the April 14 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.