Does the Antitumor Necrosis Factor-α Therapy Decrease the Vertebral Fractures Occurrence in Inflammatory Bowel Disease?

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Osteoporosis and osteoporotic fracture risk are extraintestinal manifestations of the inflammatory bowel disease, whose etiopathogenic mechanisms have not been determined yet. Anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α are used in treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but it is unknown if they play a role in osteoporotic fracture prevention. The objective of this study was to know if anti-TNF decreases fracture risk or modifies bone mineral density. To determine the possible risk factors associated with fractures, and assess the incidence of vertebral fractures in IBD patients. METHODS: Longitudinal prospective cohort study (7 yr of follow-up); which included 71 IBD patients, 23 received anti-TNF-α; the remaining 48 received conventional treatment, constituted the control group. Patients participated in a questionnaire which gathered risk factors associated with the development of osteoporosis and fractures. Radiographs of the dorsolumbar-spine were performed and also a bone density measurement. Their biochemical and bone remodeling parameters were determined. RESULTS: Although patients who did not receive anti-TNF-α, suffered more fractures but biologic therapy did not reduce the risk of new vertebral fractures. The increase of bone mass was significantly higher the group treated with anti-TNF-α. The increase in the lumbar spine was of 8% and in the femoral neck was of 6.7%. The only determinant factor for the incidence of vertebral fractures was a history of previous fractures (odds ratio of 12.8; confidence interval 95% 2.37-69.9; p = 0.003). The incidence of vertebral fractures in IBD patients was considerably high: 26.7/700 patient-yr. CONCLUSIONS: Anti-TNF-α, although increased bone mass in these patients, did not reduce the risk of new vertebral fractures. In this study, patients with IBD have a considerably high incidence of fractures. Only the existence of previous vertebral fractures was a predictive factor for consistent fractures.

[Do men and women have the same risk factors for hip fractures?]. / ¿Se fracturan la cadera los hombres y las mujeres ante los mismos factores de riesgo?

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Osteoporosis has been traditionally considered as a disease in women. However, it is now known that this condition is also important in men. It is a multifactor condition whose main independent risk factor to suffer fractures, in general, and those of the hip, specifically, is bone mass. Nonetheless, there are other independent risk factors of importance. This study has aimed to study if men and women suffer hip fractures with the same bone mass and if they have the same risk factors associated to this condition. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied 105 patients with non-traumatic hip fracture and 68 healthy controls. The different risk factors were analyzed, including clinical data, lifestyle, analytic data, data related to bone metabolism and sex hormones as well as a complete bone evaluation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Hip bone mass density (BMD) values are the main risk factor for osteoporotic fractures in both genders. These values are comparable when expressed in terms of volumetric density. In women, risk factors that determine the appearance of fractures are previous non-traumatic fractures when they are older than 50 years, total hip BMD, serum calcium levels and thiazide intake while in men only total hip BMD reaches statistical significance.