Osteoporosis in adult Sri Lankan inflammatory bowel disease patients.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a risk factor for osteoporosis in adult Sri Lankans.


METHODS
We identified eligible subjects from among consecutive patients diagnosed with IBD who attended our outpatient clinic. We included only patients aged between 20 and 70 years. Patients who were pregnant, had significant comorbidity, or were on calcium supplements or treatment for osteoporosis within the past 6 mo, were excluded. Healthy, age- and sex-matched controls were also recruited, in a control to patient ratio of 3:1. Both groups were screened for osteoporosis using peripheral dual energy X-ray absorptiometry scanning.


RESULTS
The study population consisted of 111 IBD patients (male:female = 43:68; mean age 42.5 years) and 333 controls (male:female = 129:204; mean age 43.8 years). The occurrence of osteoporosis among IBD patients (13.5%) was significantly higher than among controls (4.5%) (P = 0.001). The frequency of osteoporosis was not significantly different between ulcerative colitis (14.45%) and Crohn's disease (10.7%). However, on multivariate analysis, only age (P = 0.001), menopause (P = 0.024) and use of systemic steroids (P < 0.001) were found to be associated independently with the occurrence of osteoporosis, while IBD, severity of disease, number of relapses, duration of illness or treatment other than systemic steroids were not.


CONCLUSIONS
IBD does not appear to be an independent risk factor for the occurrence of osteoporosis in this population. However, the use of systemic steroids was a risk factor.
de Silva
Arjuna Priyadarsin
AP
Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, PO Box 6, Thalagolla Road, Ragama GQ11010, Sri Lanka. apdsilva@yahoo.com
Karunanayake
Aranjan Lionel
AL
Dissanayaka
Thalahitiya Gamaralalage Iruka
TG
Dassanayake
Anuradha Supun
AS
Duminda
Hewa Kattadi Kankanamgae Tilak
HK
Pathmeswaran
Arunasalam
A
Wickramasinghe
Ananda Rajitha
AR
de Silva
Hithanadura Janaka
HJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013188:Sri Lanka / Q000453:epidemiology; D013256:Steroids / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D055815:Young Adult
D013256:Steroids