title: Does dermatitis herpetiformis result in bone loss as coeliac disease does? A cross sectional study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  coeliac disease (CD) and its cutaneous manifestation, dermatitis herpetiformis are both (DH) gluten-sensitive diseases. Metabolic bone disease is common among patients with CD, even in asymptomatic forms. Data are scarce about bone density in patients with dermatitis herpetiformis. The aim of our study was to compare bone mineral density (BMD) of celiac and dermatitis herpetiformis patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  34 coeliac patients, 53 with dermatitis herpetiformis and 42 healthy controls were studied. The mean age was 38.0 +/- 12.1, 32.18 +/- 14.95, 35.33 +/- 10.41 years in CD, dermatitis herpetiformis, and healthy controls, respectively. Bone mineral density of the lumbar spine, the left femoral neck and radius were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Low bone density, osteopenia and osteoporosis were defined as a body mass density (BMD) T-score between 0 and -1, between -1 and -2.5, and under -2.5, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  at lumbar region, consisting of dominantly trabecular compartment, a decreased BMD was detected in 49 % (n = 26) patients with dermatitis herpetiformis, 62 % (n = 21) of CD patients, and 29 % (n = 12) of healthy controls, respectively. Lower BMD were measured at the lumbar region in dermatitis herpetiformis and CD compared to healthy subjects (0.993 +/- 0.136 g/cm2 and 0.880 +/- 0.155 g/cm2 vs. 1.056 +/- 0.126 g/cm2; p < 0.01). Density of bones consisting of dominantly cortical compartment (femoral neck) did not differ in dermatitis herpetiformis and healthy subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  our results show that a low bone mass is also frequent among patients with dermatitis herpetiformis. Bone mineral content in these patients is significantly lower in those parts of the skeleton which contain more trabecular than cortical bone.
authors.forename: Katalin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lorinczy
authors.forename: Márk
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Juhász
authors.forename: Ágnes
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Csontos
authors.forename: Bálint
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fekete
authors.forename: Orsolya
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Terjék
authors.forename: Péter L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Lakatos
authors.forename: Pál
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Miheller
authors.forename: Dorottya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kocsis
authors.forename: Sarolta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kárpáti
authors.forename: Zsolt
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tulassay
authors.forename: Tamás
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zágoni
mesh_terms: D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D015519:Bone Density; D001851:Bone Diseases, Metabolic; D002446:Celiac Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003874:Dermatitis Herpetiformis; D006801:Humans