Association of bone mineral density with airway obstruction and emphysema

Prevalence and Risk Factors for Osteoporosis in Individuals With COPD: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Osteoporosis is prevalent in individuals with COPD. Updated evidence is required to complement the previous systematic review on this topic to provide best practice. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to quantitatively synthesize data from studies with respect to the prevalence and risk factors for osteoporosis among individuals with COPD.

METHODS

EMBASE, CINAHL, MEDLINE, and PubMed databases were searched for articles containing the key words "COPD," "osteoporosis," "prevalence," and "risk factor." Eligibility screening, data extraction, and quality assessment of the retrieved articles were conducted independently by two reviewers. Meta-analyses were performed to determine osteoporosis prevalence and risk factors in individuals with COPD. Meta-regression analyses were conducted to explore the sources of heterogeneity.

RESULTS

The pooled global prevalence from 58 studies was 38% (95% CI, 34-43). The presence of COPD increased the likelihood of having osteoporosis (OR, 2.83). Other significant risk factors for osteoporosis in COPD patients were BMI < 18.5 kg/m² (OR, 4.26) and the presence of sarcopenia (OR, 3.65).

CONCLUSIONS

Osteoporosis is prevalent in individuals with COPD, and the prevalence seems to be high and similar in many countries. Patients with COPD should be screened for osteoporosis and contributing risk factors.

Hand grip strength and maximum peak expiratory flow: determinants of bone mineral density of adolescent students

Background

Maintaining and building healthy bones during the lifetime requires a complicated interaction between a number of physiological and lifestyle factors. Our goal of this study was to analyze the association between hand grip strength and the maximum peak expiratory flow with bone mineral density and content in adolescent students.

Methods

The research team studied 1427 adolescent students of both sexes (750 males and 677 females) between the ages of 11.0 and 18.9 years in the Maule Region of Talca (Chile). Weight, standing height, sitting height, hand grip strength (HGS), and maximum peak expiratory flow (PEF) were measured. Furthermore, bone mineral density (BMD) and total body bone mineral content (BMC) were determined by using the Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DXA). Hand grip strength and PEF were categorized in tertiles (lowest, middle, and highest). Linear regression was performed in steps to analyze the relationship between the variables. Differences between categories were determined through ANOVA.

Results

In males, the hand grip strength explained 18–19% of the BMD and 20–23% of the BMC. For the females, the percentage of variation occurred between 12 and 13% of the BMD and 17–18% of the BMC. The variation of PEF for the males was observed as 33% of the BMD and 36% of the BMC. For the females, both the BMD and BMC showed a variation of 19%. The HGS and PEF were divided into three categories (lowest, middle, and highest). In both cases, significant differences occurred in bone density health between the three categories.

Conclusions

In conclusion, the HGS and the PEF related positively to the bone density health of both sexes of adolescent students. The adolescents with poor values for hand grip strength and expiratory flow showed reduced values of BMD and BMC for the total body. Furthermore, the PEF had a greater influence on bone density health with respect to the HGS of the adolescents of both sexes.

Association of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and smoking status with bone density and vertebral fractures in male lung cancer screening participants

We studied the vertebral fracture prevalence on low-dose chest computed tomography (CT) in male lung cancer screening participants and the association of fractures and bone density with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and smoking. 1140 male current and former smokers with ≥ 16.5 packyears from the NELSON lung cancer screening trial were included. Age, body mass index, and smoking status were registered. CT scans and pulmonary function tests were obtained on the same day. On CT, vertebral fractures and bone density were measured. The cohort had a mean age of 62.5 years (standard deviation 5.2) old; 531 (46.6%) had quit smoking; and 437 (38.3%) had COPD. Of the group, 100 (8.8%) participants had a vertebral fracture. Fracture prevalence was higher in current compared to former smokers (11.3% versus 5.8%, p = 0.001), but similar in participants with COPD compared to those without (9.6% versus 8.3%, p = 0.430). The multivariable adjusted odds ratio for fracture presence was 1.79 (95% CI: 1.13-2.84) in current smokers and 1.08 (95% CI: 0.69-1.67) in COPD participants. Bone density was lower in current compared to former smokers (103.2 HU versus 108.7 HU, p = 0.006) and in participants with COPD compared to those without [100.7 Hounsfield Units (HU) versus 108.9 HU, p < 0.001]. In multivariate analysis, smoking status and COPD status were independently associated with bone density, corrected for age and body mass index. In conclusion, our study shows that lung cancer screening participants have a substantial vertebral fracture burden. Fractures are more common in current smokers, who also have lower bone density. We could not confirm that COPD is independently associated with vertebral fractures.