Should we screen for metabolic bone disease at IBD diagnosis?

High metabolic bone disease rates were observed among patients with newly diagnosed inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). According to the authors, the findings of this study indicate that systematic screening of these patients is warranted.

Dr Mohamed Attauabi (Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark) and colleagues assessed the occurrence of metabolic bone disease among patients with IBD in a population-based inception cohort study called ‘the IBD prognosis study’ [1]. Since 2021, they have been recruiting patients with IBD from the uptake area of the Herlev and Hvidovre Hospitals in Denmark. All participants with incident IBD (n=509) were invited to a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) at diagnosis; 70% underwent such a DXA.

“Two groups of interest were post-menopausal women, defined as women over 51 years of age, and elderly men, defined as men over 49 years of age,” added Dr Attauabi. Osteoporosis was observed in 35.7% and 28.6% of the post-menopausal women with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), respectively. “In the healthy post-menopausal population, this rate is 12%,” stated Dr Attauabi. The corresponding rates in elderly men were 13.2% and 12.5% in those with UC and CD, and 2.6% in the healthy population of elderly men.

Dr Attauabi added that osteopenia rates were high in pre-menopausal women with UC or CD between 30 and 51 years of age (28.9%; 23.5%) as well as in younger men with UC or CD in the same age group (23.3%; 26.9%). Finally, the authors did not find any general or IBD-related risk factors that significantly influenced the risk of osteoporosis or osteopenia in this population.

“Approximately every third menopausal woman with previously untreated IBD had osteoporosis,” summarised Dr Attauabi. “In elderly men with IBD, this rate was a little over 10%. In younger, newly diagnosed patients, we saw high osteopenia rates. The high incidence of metabolic bone disease among newly diagnosed patients with IBD warrants systematic screening of patients,” he concluded.

1. Attauabi M, et al. Should all patients with newly diagnosed inflammatory bowel diseases be screened for metabolic bone disease? Results from a Danish population-based inception cohort study. OP38, 19^th Congress of ECCO, 21–24 February 2024, Stockholm, Sweden.

Copyright ©2024 Medicom Medical Publishers



Posted on 18 April 202417 May 2024