Risk of vertebral fracture and relationship to bone mineral density in steroid treated rheumatoid arthritis

Article Abstract:

The risk for spinal bone damage may be higher in post-menopausal women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) than post-menopausal women in the general population. However, it remains unclear whether corticosteroid drug therapy contributes to this risk and whether bone mineral density (BMD) measurements are meaningful indicators of RA disease progression. Researchers compared spinal X-rays of 76 post-menopausal women with RA with the spinal X-rays of 347 age-matched volunteers (X-ray control group). They also compared BMD measurements of the RA group with 20 age-matched volunteers. Women in the RA group had a higher percentage of spinal injuries as compared to the X-ray control group. Both of these groups had a similar distribution of spinal injury types. Despite a 10%-16% overall decrease in BMD in the RA group, BMD measurements did not correlate with degree of spinal injury or use of corticosteroids.

Health aspects, Drug therapy, Corticosteroids, Adrenocortical hormones, Rheumatoid arthritis, Vertebrae, Spinal fractures

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Bone mineral density and bone turnover in spinal osteoarthrosis

Article Abstract:

An increase in bone mineral density (BMD) may protect women with osteoarthrosis (OA) of the spine against bone loss. BMD is a frequently used measurement for evaluating bone mass. Doctors evaluated 375 volunteer women aged 50-85 for evidence of OA and spinal abnormalities by X-raying their spines. They also tested these women for BMD in the spine, hip, and total body and measured bone turnover rates as indicated by levels of excreted pyridinoline and deoxpyridinoline, and serum bone specific alkaline phosphatase. A total of 340 of the 375 women had OA. All of the BMD measurements were higher in the women with OA as compared to those without OA. The women with OA tended to have fewer vertebral deformities as compared to the women without OA. There was a significant association between spinal OA, higher BMD and lower rates of bone turnover.

Spinal diseases

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Mechanical and material properties of the subchondral bone plate from the femoral head of patients with osteoarthritis or osteoporosis

Article Abstract:

Osteoarthritis appears to affect bone as well as cartilage even in the early stages of the disease. Researchers took bone samples from various parts of the head of the upper leg bone removed from patients undergoing hip replacement. Most of the patients had osteoporosis (OP) or osteoarthritis (OA). Compared to bone from healthy volunteers, the bone samples of both the OP and OA patients were less stiff and dense. OP and OA bone had less mineralization. This indicates that bone demineralization alone does not cause OA, since cartilage remains intact in OP patients whereas both groups had bone demineralization.

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