Endocrine Abstracts

Increased life expectancy in patients with CF has brought about novel challenges in their care. Osteoporosis in CF is associated with significant morbidity and is an exclusion criterion for lung transplantation. Recent evidence suggests an association between dysglycaemia and low bone mineral density (BMD). We aimed to determine predictors of bone loss in a cohort of CF patients attending a tertiary referral centre and, in particular, if dysglycaemia is linked with low BMD.

We performed a retrospective review of patients included in our hospital CF database. Data recorded included patient demographics and anthropometric characteristics, biochemistry, BMD as measured by dual-energy X-ray absorbimetry (DXA), lung function, medication prescribed and number of hospitalisations. The impact of patient characteristics on BMD was analysed by χ² test for discrete variables and Student’s t-test for continuous variables. Spearman correlation between patient variables and Z scores was calculated.

Complete data was available for 92 patients. Median age was 25±5 years and BMI 20.9±4 kg/m². Sixty-three patients (68%) had a Z-score ≤ −1 of whom 17 had a Z-score ≤−2.5. Fifty-five had normal glucose tolerance, 12 had impaired glucose tolerance and 29 CF-related diabetes with HbA1c of 5.4±0.5, 5.9±0.4 and 7.7±1.8% and Z-scores of −1.4±1.2, −1.4±1.0 and −1.4±1.5, respectively. Lower Z-scores were associated with poor lung function, low body weight and higher rates of hospitalisation and antibiotic use but not with dysglycaemia.

Despite recent evidence suggesting an association between dysglycaemia and bone loss in CF, we found no such association in our Irish cohort. Global disease severity and not dysglycaemia is the better predictor of bone loss in CF.

DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.31.P18