Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Structural and functional damage of the skeletal system resulting in fractures is a common complication of CD. Due to major effect of glucocorticoids on the trabecular bone, vertebral fractures are a common and severe complication which can lead to disability.

Goal: To investigate the prevalence of skeletal complications (osteoporosis, osteopenia, presence of fragility fractures) in patients with Cushing’s disease, as well as gain insight into the potential risk factors for their development.

Material and methods: Cross-sectional study was carried out analyzing electronic medical histories of 52 patients (41 female, 11 male), diagnosed with CD treated between 2009 and 2019.

Results: The study shows that bone demineralization is present in 52% of patients, 32% of whom were diagnosed with osteoporosis, 20% with osteopenia. A correlation between bone demineralization and age or age of CD diagnosis is shown. Bone fractures were present in 17.3% of the patients, of which 77.8% were vertebral and 22.2% peripheral. Patients who had bone fractures were more prone to bone demineralization (P=0.02), and more specifically, there was a significant association between osteoporosis and skeletal fragility fractures (P=0.003).

Conclusion: Patients with CD have high prevalence of bone demineralization and osteoporosis. Patients with reduced bone mineralization are at higher risk of fracutres, most commonly vertebral fractures, which is why early diagnosis and treatment are necessary.