Osteoporosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving low-dose corticosteroids

Abstract

Osteoporosis (OP) is a frequent comorbidity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who take low doses of glucocorticoids (GCs) (<7.5mg), which causes malabsorption of calcium, decreased bone mass and risk of fracture.

Objective: to establish the frequency of OP and low bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with RA who take low doses of GCs from the Vicente Corral Moscoso Hospital (HVCM).

Methodology: a descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out in patients with RA who were attended in the HVCM outpatient clinic, who receive disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and low doses of GCs in addition to conventional medication. The sample was calculated based on a frequency of 30% of OP. For the diagnosis of OP, axial densitometry (DXA) was used with WHO criteria. The information was processed in SPSS version 15.

Results: the study was carried out with 161 patients with RA who took low doses of GCs, 96.3% were female, the age group from 40 to 64 years represented 60.2%, the majority made domestic chores 78.9%. The BMD in the lumbar spine was low with 39.1% and OP 37.9%; low BMD in the femoral neck 39.8% and OP 17.4%.

Conclusions: frequency of OP and decreased BMD was found in RA patients taking low-dose GCs; being more frequent the OP and decreased BMD in people older than 64 years with RA and who take GCs for more than ten years.