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Bone mineral density in Indian women with rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatology International volume 29, Article number: 377 (2009) Cite this article

Abstract

Osteoporosis (OP) is being increasingly recognized in inflammatory rheumatic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Ethnicity influences bone mineral density (BMD) and fracture risk. Due to paucity of data on this aspect of RA from Asian countries including India, we prospectively studied 84 premenopausal women with RA of at least 2 years duration and 247 healthy, age (within 5 years) and sex-matched controls. A significant difference in BMD between patients and controls was observed only at the femoral neck. As many as 22% patients with RA exhibited osteoporosis at least one site in contrast to 9% controls. Nearly 40% of patients exhibited osteopenia at all the three sites. Modified Sharp score, disease duration and DMARD naive period were found to correlate with low BMD. However, on multivariate analysis, only modified Sharp score was shown to be significantly associated with low BMD. Our study draws attention to the poor bone health in Asian Indian women with RA.

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Acknowledgments

The study was funded by BJD NAN (Bone and Joint Decade, National Area Network) India.

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Affiliations

  1. All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

    Subramanian Shankar, Rohini Handa, Ritu Aneja, Vishal Marwaha, A. C. Ammini & V. Aprajita

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  1. Subramanian Shankar
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  2. Rohini Handa
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  3. Ritu Aneja
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  4. Vishal Marwaha
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  5. A. C. Ammini
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  6. V. Aprajita
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Correspondence to Rohini Handa.

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Shankar, S., Handa, R., Aneja, R. et al. Bone mineral density in Indian women with rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatol Int 29, 377 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-008-0706-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-008-0706-5

Keywords

  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Osteoporosis
  • Osteopenia
  • BMD
  • Modified Sharp score
  • Asian Indian