Glucocorticoid osteoporosis with

Talalaj M, Gradowska L, Marcinowska-Suchowierska E, Durlik M, Gaciong Z, Lao M. Efficiency of preventive treatment of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis with 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 and calcium in kidney transplant patients. Transplant Proc 1996 28(6) 3485-7. 

Boutsen Y, Jamart J, Esselinckx W, Stoffel M, Devogelaer JP. Primary prevention of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis with intermittent intravenous pami-dronate a randomized trial. Calcif Tissue Int 1997 61(4) 266-71. 

Glucocorticoids Osteoporosis occurs in Cushing s disease and in patients treated with glucocorticoids for immunosuppression. Glucocorticoids are used in the treatment of hypercalcemia. Decrease intestinal Ca + absorption may antagonize 1,25-(0H)2D or PTH may directly stimulate parathyroids may have direct effects on intestine and bone independent of PTH and 1,25-(0H)2D. 

Histological evidence suggests that the excess glucocorticoid osteoporosis results more from interference with osteoblastic than from an increase of osteoclastic activity. 

The glucocorticoids are administered with caution to patients with renal or hepatic disease hypothyroidism, ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis, peptic ulcer disease, inflammatory bowel disease hypertension, osteoporosis, convulsive disorders, or diabetes. The glucocorticoids... 

Calcitonin is indicated for osteoporosis treatment for women at least 5 years past menopause. Although limited data suggest beneficial effects in men and concomitantly with glucocorticoids, these indications are not FDA approved. 

Prescribing thiazide diuretics solely for osteoporosis is not recommended but is a reasonable choice for patients with osteoporosis who require a diuretic and for patients on glucocorticoids with a 24-hour urinary calcium excretion >300 mg. 

Primary osteoporosis is the most common form of the condition. The secondary form of osteoporosis is diagnosed when an illness and/or medications are present with a negative impact on BMD. Examples of common chronic conditions in old people that can cause secondary osteoporosis are seen in Box 5.14. Examples of drugs that can cause secondary osteoporosis are glucocorticoids, too high doses of thyroid hormone, anticonvulsants, and heparin. Especially the use of glucocorticoids has been known to cause severe osteoporosis even within a short period of treatment. Depending on the doses the development of osteoporosis can occur within a few weeks or months. 

Steroids have mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid effects. Betamethasone has little, if any, mineralocorticoid effect. However, it should be used with caution in patients predisposed to hypertension since mineralocorticoid effects may lead to sodium and water retention and an increase in blood pressure. When used systemically, especially at high doses, steroid therapy is associated with a risk of psychiatric reactions such as euphoria, irritability, mood lability and sleep disorders. Glucocorticoid side-effects include diabetes and osteoporosis. 

Qassification Idiopathic osteoporosis type 1, occurring in postmenopausal females type 11, occurring in senescent males and females (>70 y). Secondary osteoporosis associated with primary disorders such as Cushing s disease, or induced by drugs, e.g chronic therapy with glucocorticoids or heparin. In these forms, the cause can be eliminated. 

In the treatment of secondary adrenocortical insufficiency, lower doses of cortisol are generally effective, and fluid and electrolyte disturbances do not have to be considered, since patients with deficient corticotrophin secretion generally do not have abnormal function of the zona glomerulosa. Since cortisol replacement therapy is required for life, adequate assessment of patients is critical to avoid the serious long-term consequences of excessive or insufficient treatment. In many cases, the doses of glucocorticoid used in replacement therapy are probably too high. Patients should ideally be administered three or more doses daily. To limit the risk of osteoporosis, replacement therapy should be carefully assessed on an individual basis and overtreatment avoided. 

Patients receiving glucocorticoids must be monitored carefully for the development of hyperglycemia, glycosuria, sodium retention with edema or hypertension, hypokalemia, peptic ulcer, osteoporosis, and hidden infections. 

Glucocorticoids must be used with great caution in patients with peptic ulcer, heart disease or hypertension with heart failure, certain infectious illnesses such as varicella and tuberculosis, psychoses, diabetes, osteoporosis, or glaucoma. 

Treatment ot increase bone mass in men with osteoporosis Treatment of glucocorticoid induced osteoporosis... 

Osteoporosis induced by chronic glucocorticoid therapy has been reviewed in patients with obstructive lung diseases (195) and patients with skin diseases (196). 

Glucocorticoids can even cause osteoporosis when they are used for long-term replacement therapy in the Addison s disease, as has been shown by a study of 91 patients who had taken glucocorticoids for a mean of 10.6 years, in whom bone mineral density was reduced by 32% compared with age-matched controls (SEDA-19, 377 198). However, these results contrasted with the results of a Spanish study in patients with Addison s disease, in which no direct relation was found between replacement therapy and either bone density or biochemical markers of bone turnover of calcium metabolism (alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin, procollagen I type, parathormone, and 1,25-dihydroxycolecalciferol) (SEDA-19, 377 199). 

There have been reviews of the mechanisms and adverse effects of glucocorticoids in rheumatoid arthritis (205) and the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis in patients with pulmonary diseases (206). Several mechanisms underlie the effect of glucocorticoids on bone, both biochemical and cellular. Effects on calcium are ... 

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