A case-control study on risk factors of osteoporosisin patients with Crohn's disease.

Background: Osteoporosis has been frequently reported in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases, especially Crohn's disease.

Methods: All consecutive Crohn's disease patients who attended the GI Clinics at Shariati Hospital, Tehran, Iran, from 2004 to 2007 were evaluated. A BMD-DEXA assessment was performed for all patients. Among those patients diagnosed with osteoporosis (T score
Results: In this study, a multivariable modeling technique revealed a higher osteoporosis risk in those who had a lower body mass index, previous fractures and longer disease duration. A cumulative corticosteroid dose of 10 - 35 g provided the highest osteoporosis risk. Age, sex, bowel resection, site of disease, smoking and consumption of calcium and vitamin D did not show any relationship with osteoporosis.

Conclusion: The highest osteoporosis risk was seen in patients with a cumulative 10 - 35 g corticosteroid dose and could be due to both steroid inefficiency in reducing Crohn's disease inflammation as well as the cumulative drug dose and it's adverse effect on patients.