http://www.healio.com/orthopedics/foot-ankle/news/online/%7B870d60f1-0470-4b38-9eba-4cd30902c6d6%7D/higher-bone-mineral-density-smaller-bone-size-found-in-patients-with-foot-or-ankle-oa

Higher bone mineral density, smaller bone size found in patients with foot or ankle OA

Cöster M. J Foot Ankle Surg. 2014;doi: 10.1016/j.fas.2013.10.008

Researchers from Sweden discovered that after adjusting for body mass index, patients with foot or ankle osteoarthritis had higher bone mineral density and smaller femoral neck width as measured by DEXA compared to controls.

“Patients with [osteoarthritis] OA in the foot or ankle have higher [bone mineral density] BMD and smaller bone size than being expected by their [body mass index] BMI,” Maria C. Cöster, MD, of Skåne University Hospital in Malmö, Sweden, and colleagues wrote in their study. “This phenotype may provide unfavorable forces across the joint and is hypothetically important for development of OA.”
The investigators studied the BMD and femoral neck (FN) width of 42 women and 19 men with idiopathic OA in the foot or ankle and compared them with 99 women and 82 men without OA.
After adjusting for differences in BMI, the investigators found women with foot or ankle OA had a total body (TB) BMD of 1.14 g/ cm2 compared to 1.04 g/ cm2for women in the control group. The BMI-adjusted FN width for women with OA was 3.37 cm vs. 3.44 for women in the control cohort.  The BMI-adjusted TB BMD for men with OA was 1.23 g/ cm2 compared to 1.16 g/ cm2

for men without OA, according to the study. FN width for men with OA was 3.75 cm vs. 3.97 cm for men in the control group. —by Christian Ingram

  Disclosure: The authors reported no relevant financial disclosures.