BONE MINERAL DENSITY IN MALES WITH DIFFERENT CLINICAL TYPES OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Abstract

Objective: to estimate bone mineral density (BMD) in males with different clinical types of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Subjects and methods. The study enrolled 80 patients having a valid diagnosis of RA (mean age 55.2±1.4 years; disease duration 7.2±0.6 years). A control group included 84 apparently healthy men matched for age (56.7±0.9 years). BMD was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry using a stationary Exceell XR-46 bone densitometer (Norland, USA). Results. In the patients with RA, the BMD values in both the femoral neck and lumbar spine were significantly lower than those in the control group. Thus, the males with RA had a femoral neck BMD of 924.66±14.03 g/cm2, which is equal to 2.34±0.10 standard deviations (SD) as evidenced by the T-test, while the control group had this index of 1007.85±16.84 g/cm2, which is equal to 1.54±0.12 SD as shown by the T-test (p

Keywords

• rheumatoid arthritis
• males
• bone mineral density