Efficacy,effectiveness and side effects of medications used to prevent fractures

There is an increasing number of effective therapies for fracture prevention in adults at risk of osteoporosis. However, shortcomings in the evidence underpinning our management of osteoporosis still exist. Evidence of antifracture efficacy in the groups of patients who most commonly use calcium and vitamin D supplements is lacking, the safety of calcium supplements is in doubt, and the safety and efficacy of high doses of vitamin D give cause for concern. Alendronate, risedronate, zoledronate and denosumab have been shown to prevent spine, nonspine and hip fractures; in addition, teriparatide and strontium ranelate prevent both spine and nonspine fractures, and raloxifene and ibandronate prevent spine fractures. However, most trials provide little information regarding long‐term efficacy or safety. A particular concern at present is the possibility that oral bisphosphonates might cause atypical femoral fractures. Observational data suggest that the incidence of this type of fracture increases steeply with duration of bisphosphonate use, resulting in concern that the benefit–risk balance may become negative in the long term, particularly in patients in whom the osteoporotic fracture risk is not high. Therefore, reappraisal of ongoing use of bisphosphonates after about 5 years is endorsed by expert consensus, and ‘drug holidays’ should be considered at this time. Further studies are needed to guide clinical practice in this area.     

183例老年人骨密度检测分析

目的 :研究老年人不同疾病时骨密度 (BMD)的分布情况。方法 :用DXADAS 6 0 0EX型骨密度仪对183例老年患者进行左侧远程桡骨加尺骨BMD检测。结果 :内分泌疾病组、消化道疾病组和其它疾病组的患病率分别为 72 7% ,2 0 6 %和 31 4 %。T值比较 :三组差异明显 (P <0 0 0 1)。累积骨丢失率 (ABLR)比较 :前一组明显高于后两组病人 (P <0 0 1)。BMD比较中 ,内分泌和其它疾病组明显低于消化道疾病组 (P <0 0 0 1)。相关分析显示 ,内分泌和消化道疾病组的年龄变化与BMD呈正相关 (r =0 5 19P <0 0 0 1和r =0 5 89P <0 0 0 1) ,内分泌疾病组和其它疾病组的体重变化与BMD呈正相关 (r=0 918P <0 0 0 1和r =0 338P <0 0 0 1)。结论 :老年人骨质疏松 (OP)患病率以内分泌疾病组最高 ,消化道疾病组较低 ;随年龄和体重增加 ,BMD降低加重。     

Osteoporosis and Coronary Atherosclerosis in Asymptomatic Postmenopausal Women

Estrogen deficiency is a risk factor for osteoporosis and coronary artery disease. Osteoporosis can be evaluated by measuring bone mineral density (BMD). Coronary atherosclerotic burden can be evaluated by measuring coronary calcium using electron beam computed tomography (EBT) of the heart. We compared coronary calcium scores in 45 asymptomatic postmenopausal women with normal and low BMD. BMD of the lumbar spine and proximal femur was measured by dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and coronary calcium was measured quantitatively by EBT. Women were divided into control, osteopenia, and osteoporosis groups based on the T score of the lumbar spine. Women were similar in age, years since menopause, height, weight, and body mass index (BMI). BMD ± SD (g/cm²) of L1–L4 was 0.96 ± 0.11, 0.83 ± 0.03, and 0.73 ± 0.05, in control, osteopenia, and osteoporosis group, respectively. The total coronary calcium score ± SD (relative units) was 41.9 ± 83.1, 115.1 ± 181.9, and 221.7 ± 355.4 for control, osteopenia, and osteoporosis group, respectively; the score was significantly higher in the osteoporosis than in the control group. This study provides initial data suggesting that women with osteoporosis may have a higher risk of developing coronary atherosclerosis.     

Bone disease in primary biliary cirrhosis: Lack of association with distal renal tubular acidosis

Background and Aims: Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) might be complicated by osteoporosis, whose etiology remains unknown but seems to be multifactorial. Prevalence rates of 30% to 60% for distal renal tubular acidosis (DRTA) have been reported in PBC patients, generally as incomplete DRTA. Although it is undisputed that a reduced bone mineral density (BMD) is the expected outcome among patients who have been suffering from longstanding chronic metabolic acidosis, it is unclear if incomplete DRTA is also associated with metabolic bone disease in PBC patients. The present study was undertaken to compare the BMD of PBC patients with and without DRTA.
Methods: The BMD of 23 PBC patients (11 with DRTA and 12 without), all with normal clearance of creatinine, was assessed by dual energy radiograph absorptiometry. The diagnosis of DRTA was made if the urine pH was above 5.4 in all samples after the oral acid overload, showing tubular inability to acidify urine in the presence of test-induced systemic metabolic acidosis.
Results: Densitometric signs of osteoporosis were found in 82% of DRTA cases and in 83% of patients without DRTA (difference not significant). There were no significant differences in BMD measurement, T and Z scores of patients with and without DRTA.
Conclusions: The present study could not support a correlation between the presence of DRTA and the bone loss observed in PBC patients.     

Calcium intake in the elderly: validation of a dietary questionnaire

Epidemiological studies of calcium and osteoporosis have been hampered by the lack of a suitable tool for assessing calcium intake. This report describes a new frequency and amount questionnaire for measuring present and past calcium intake in the elderly. The validity of the questionnaire was tested against two commonly used standards of dietary assessment, five-day duplicate diets and seven-day weighed dietary inventories. The resulting correlation coefficients were, respectively, r = 0.76 and r = 0.69, while that for repeatability was r = 0.84. Furthermore, the questionnaire categorized subjects into thirds of the distribution of intake with almost no gross misclassification. It is suggested that the present findings may be extended to the majority of normal, healthy elderly subjects, implying wide application for the questionnaire in the assessment of calcium intake in the elderly.     

Improved anchorage in osteoporotic vertebrae with new implant designs.

The goal of our study was to evaluate two newly developed implant designs and their behavior in terms of subsidence in lumbar vertebral bodies under cyclic loading. The new implants were evaluated in two different configurations (two small prototypes vs. one large prototype with similar load-bearing area) in comparison to a conventional screw-based implant (MACS TL). A pool of 13 spines with a total of 65 vertebrae was used to establish five testing groups of similar bone mineral density (BMD) distribution with eight lumbar vertebrae each. In additional to BMD assessment via dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, cancellous BMD and structural parameters were determined using a new generation in vivo 3D-pQCT. The specimens were loaded sinusoidally in force control at 1 Hz for 1000 cycles at three load levels (100, 200, and 400 N). A survival analysis using the number of cycles until failure (Cox regression with covariates) was applied to reveal differences between implant groups. All new prototype configurations except the large cylinder survived significantly longer than the control group. The number of cycles until failure was significantly correlated with the structural parameter Tb.Sp. and similarly with the cancellous BMD for three of five implants. In both large prototypes the cycle number until failure significantly correlated with the preoperative distance to the upper endplates. Although the direct relationship between bone structure or density and mechanical breakage behavior cannot be conclusively proven, all the prototypes adapted for poor bone structure performed better than the comparable conventional implant.     

Quantitation of T2′ anisotropic effects on magnetic resonance bone mineral density measurement

In this paper, the authors quantitate the anisotropy of susceptibility effects in an uniaxial trabecular bone model and show its relevance to clinical MR bone mineral density measurements. A physical model is described that quantitates the anisotropic MR behavior of uniaxial trabecular bone. To test the model, a phantom of parallel polyethylene filaments was scanned every 15° between 0° and 90° with respect to the system's main magnetic field (B₀). The distal radial metaphysis of a healthy female volunteer was scanned in orthogonal projections. The signal from each phantom image and each radial image was separated in a pixel-wise fashion into R₂ and R₂′ maps. As predicted, R₂′ relaxation showed anisotropic behavior and changed according to sin² (?), confirming that columnar structures parallel with B₀ will cause no MR susceptibility effects. Scans of the distal radius showed that R₂′ relaxation was twice as great with the forearm perpendicular to B₀ as when it was parallel to it, demonstrating different contributions from struts and columns. For both phantom and radial bone scans, R₂ relaxation was isotropic and did not change with object orientation.     

应用干骺端骨连接性参数进行废用性骨质疏松症预防措施的比较

目的：比较不同预防废用性骨质疏松措施干预后骨小梁连接性参数的变化情况。方法：自制幼年大鼠废用性骨质疏松模型，用电针、补钙等不同干预措施干预4周后进行股骨下段干骺端(松质骨)标本节点数和游离末端数测量。结果：废用性骨质疏松骨小梁节点数明显减少。游离末端数相对增多。电针组与废用性骨质疏松对照组比较节点数增加，有统计学意义。结论：骨小梁节点数的下降是废用性骨质疏松的主要病理特征，该参数测定对废用性骨质疏松的诊断、风险预测、治疗及预防措施的比较有较大参考价值。电针刺激可有效预防废用性骨质疏松。     

Bone Density in Survivors of Childhood Cancer

Advances in combination chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery, and bone marrow transplantation have resulted in markedly improved survival rates for many children with cancer. Advancements in therapy, however, have led to new concerns, namely long-term consequences of effective treatments. Young adult and adult survivors of childhood cancer are at risk for a number of disorders related to therapy. Specifically, the young adult who has survived cancer, attendant treatments, and their complications is at risk for factors that can lead to suboptimal acquisition of peak bone mass. These factors include chronic illness, nutritional deficiencies, limited physical activity, and treatment with glucocorticoids, multiagent chemotherapy, and radiation. The long-term adverse effects of these therapies on endocrine systems, especially sex steroid and growth hormone deficiencies, are additional risk factors for some patients. After a brief review of the processes associated with acquisition of peak bone mass in the young adult, this article examines the impact of cancer and cancer therapy on bone mineral density in survivors of childhood cancer.