Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. May 18, 2022; 13(5): 494-502
Published online May 18, 2022. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v13.i5.494
Effect of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on fracture healing in children: A systematic review
Sarah Stroud, Toshali Katyal, Alex L Gornitzky, Ishaan Swarup
Sarah Stroud, Alex L Gornitzky, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, United States
Toshali Katyal, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital, San Francisco, CA 94143, United States
Ishaan Swarup, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, Oakland, CA 94609, United States
Author contributions: Katyal T performed the literature search for the systematic review; Stroud S and Katyal T reviewed the articles using the inclusion and exclusion criteria; Stroud S, Katyal T, and Gornitzky AL collected and analyzed the data and wrote the paper; Swarup I supervised and contributed to the report.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts to disclose.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ishaan Swarup, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, 747 52nd Street, Oakland, CA 94609, United States. ishaan.swarup@ucsf.edu
Received: March 3, 2021
Peer-review started: March 3, 2021
First decision: July 28, 2021
Revised: September 14, 2021
Accepted: April 22, 2022
Article in press: April 22, 2022
Published online: May 18, 2022
Core Tip

Core Tip: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among the most commonly prescribed medications in the United States. To assess whether NSAID exposure is a risk factor for fracture nonunion in children. We systematically reviewed the literature reporting the effect of NSAIDs on bone healing. This systematic review suggests that NSAIDS can be safely prescribed to pediatric orthopaedic patients absent other contraindications without concern for increased risk of fracture non-union or delayed bone healing.