AB0611 OSTEOPOROSIS IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS: A NECESSARY EVIL?

Abstract

Background:Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that is characterized by local and general bone loss. Osteoporosis (OP) is one of the most frequent comorbidities associated with RA. Many factors are incriminated in bone loss in RA such as inflammation, glucocorticoid (GC) use, and immobility.Objectives:-To determine the prevalence of OP in a population of actual RA patients.-To determine the risk factors of bone mineral density (BMD) reductionMethods:One hundred-fifty-two RA followed in the rheumatology department between 2015-2020 were enrolled in the study. The diagnosis of RA was established according to the American College of rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) criteria 2010. BMD in lumbar spine and total hip was systematically measured in the recruited patients. Measures were taken with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), and age-specific values were compared with pooled values from a local population of healthy subjects free from earlier fractures.Results:The mean age was 42.7±13 years. The sex ratio M/F was 0.24. The mean onset disease was 6±1.8 years. Fifty-sex patients (36.3%) were receiving conventional treatment DMARDs and 96 (63.6%) were under biological treatment. 35.5% were taken steroids with mean doses at 7.7±3.3mg/day. RF and ACPA were positive respectively in 87.3% and 82.4% of the patients. The mean disease activity score DAS28CRP was 4.8 ±2.7.Sixty-eight point eight 68.8% of the RA population had bone loss: 37.5% had osteopenia and 31.3% had OP. Regarding the OP group, sex ratio M/F was 0.45. The mean age was 42±5.3 years. Among the 31 women, 77.4% had postmenopausal OP. The BMI average was 31.18 ± 6.19 kg/m2. Fifteen patients (33.33%) had OP in the hip site and 20 patients had OP in the lumbar site (48.8%). Ten patients had both trabecular and cortical OP.Advanced age, glucocorticoid use and high DAS28CRP were independent risk factors for OP (respectively p=0.04, p=0.02 and p=0.01). Body mass index, smoking, disease duration high Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) score (p=0.545) and smoking (p=0.326) were not associated with high risk of OP. The biological treatment was not a protective factor in OP (p=0.972). All the population subjects were free from earlier fractures, the fractural risk estimated by dint of the mean FRAXTM score was at 1.4 ± 2.3.Conclusion:Previous studies estimated that, approximately, osteoporosis affected one-third of RA patients which is in concordance with our study. Advanced age, glucorticoid treatment and severe disease were the most common risk factor in our study.Disclosure of Interests:None declared.