Study of bone mineral density in postmenopausic women with rheumatoid arthritis treated with low dose glucocorticoids

BACKGROUND: TO study bone mineral density (BMD) in a group of postmenopausa l women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with low doses of corticoste roids. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred and eleven patients were included. Mean a ge (SD) was 63.8 (8.8) years, mean duration of postmenopausal period was 16 .4 (10.1) years and the mean disease duration was 12.5 (8.2) years. RESULTS: A significant reduction of lumbar BMD (p < 0.05) and femoral BMD ( p < 0.0001) was observed. The prevalence of osteoporosis was of 47%. CONCLUSIONS: The study supports, in the Spanish population, that postmenopa usal women with RA treated with low doses of corticosteroids, have low BMD, We consider that the prevalence of osteoporosis in these patients is high.