Fracture history and bone loss in patients with MS.
OBJECTIVE
We have previously shown that MS patients have significantly reduced bone mass and a high prevalence of abnormal vitamin D status. The object of this study was to characterize the frequency of adulthood fractures in MS patients, prospectively determine rates of bone loss in MS, and determine whether vitamin D status is a predictor of bone loss.


METHODS
MS patients (36 women, 18 men) were compared with age- and gender-matched healthy controls (35 women, 14 men). Bone mass was performed by dual x-ray absorptiometry at baseline and at 12-month intervals over 2 years.


RESULTS
Fractures in the absence of major trauma had occurred in 2% of controls and 22% of MS patients (p < 0.002). Over the 2 years of prospective follow-up, both women and men with MS lost substantially more bone in the femoral neck than did controls (3% and 6% per year in pre- and postmenopausal women with MS versus 0.5% and 0.8% per year in controls; 7.3% per year in men with MS versus 1.6% per year in controls). Bone loss in the spine was also greater in women with MS than in controls (1.6 to 3.5% per year loss in MS patients versus no change in controls). Duration of steroid treatment beyond 5 months and ambulatory status were both predictors of bone loss. Bone loss in the spine occurred faster in MS patients with low (<20 ng/mL) 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels (1.9% per year, p < 0.04), whereas in those with normal 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, bone loss was insignificant. At the femoral neck, bone loss was substantial in all patients, but was somewhat faster in the group with low levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (5.6% per year, p < 0.0001) compared with the group with high levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (4.3% per year, p = 0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
MS patients have more frequent fractures and lose bone mass more rapidly than do their healthy age- and gender-matched peers, in part related to insufficient vitamin D. Vitamin D repletion in MS patients who are deficient might reduce, to some extent, the rate of bone loss and decrease osteoporosis-related fractures.
Clinical Research/Regional Bone Centers, Helen Hayes Hospital, West Haverstraw, NY 10993, USA.
F
F
Cosman
J
J
Nieves
L
L
Komar
G
G
Ferrer
J
J
Herbert
C
C
Formica
V
V
Shen
R
R
Lindsay
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015519:Bone Density; D005260:Female; D005265:Femoral Neck Fractures / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D005598:Fractures, Spontaneous / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism; D015663:Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism
D014807:Vitamin D; C104450:25-hydroxyvitamin D