Risk of osteoporosis in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

The study was conducted on 2 groups including patients group and control subjects group at the outpatient clinic of Ibn Sina teaching hospital in Mosul during the period between 1/11/2010 and 1/5/2011. The first group consists of 53 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and the second group consists of 53 apparently healthy subjects matched for age and gender who denied respiratory symptoms were kept as control group. The aim of this study was to assess whether there is an increase in the risk of osteoporosis in patients with COPD compared to that in healthy age-matched control subjects, and the correlation of osteoporosis to various degrees of disease severity. All the study groups were subjected to assessment of medical and drug history, measurement of weight and height to derive body mass index, pulmonary function testing, biochemical tests, and dual-energy X- ray absorptiometry The data obtained from the study revealed that patients with COPD have a significantly increased risk of osteoporosis as compared to that in healthy age-matched control subjects, 22(41.5%) versus 11(20.7%), respectively. The risk of osteoporosis was significantly different after stratification for Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease-stage. Most patients with osteoporosis did not receive pharmacological treatment. Age, body mass index, menopausal duration and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) % predicted were significant independent correlates for osteoporosis.