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Bone Abstracts (2013) 2 P43 | DOI: 10.1530/boneabs.2.P43

1Euro Mediterranean Biomedical Scientific Institute, ISBEM, Brindisi, Puglia, Italy; 2Local Health Authority, ASL Brindisi, Brindisi, Puglia, Italy.


Osteoporosis is a leading cause of morbidity in patients affected by β-thalassaemia major (TM) and intermediate thalassaemia (TI). Appropriate supportive care and identification of long-term sequels of therapy are important in thalassaemic patients. As low bone mineral quality (BMQ) in patients can be considered a marker of possible degeneration to osteopenia and osteoporosis in adulthood, we evaluated bone features in a young population followed at ‘A. Perrino’ Hospital in Brindisi. Fifty-five thalassaemic patients (29 males, 26 females; aged 18–45 years) were analyzed during 2012 and compared vs. a matched control population (55 healthy adults: 24 males, 31 females; aged 18-46 years). Seven patients were affected by TI while the rest was affected by TM. BMQ was assessed by quantitative ultrasound (QUS) technique at the phalanx level. The main values of phalangeal QUS are the amplitude-dependent speed of sound (AD-SoS, m/s) and the bone transmission time (BTT, microsec). QUS values were significantly lower in cases than in controls (AD-SoS: 2119.4±53.9 and BTT: 1.75±0.3 in controls; AD-SoS 2031±75.2 and BTT: 1.43±0.3 in cases). AD-SoS was negatively associated with BMI (r=−0.36, P=0.0067 in controls; r=−0.37, P=0.0054 in cases), while BTT was correlated with gender in both cases (P<0.01) and controls (P<0.0001), showing lower values in females. Our results suggest that bone quality in thalassaemic young patients is influenced by many factors that were not present in control subjects, such as iron chelation therapy, delayed sexual maturation, growth hormone deficiency, parathyroid dysfunction, hypothyroidism and liver diseases.

Volume 2

6th International Conference on Children's Bone Health

Rotterdam, The Netherlands
22 Jun 2013 - 25 Jun 2013

ICCBH 

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