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Hip bone marrow lesions associated with reduced hip BMD
Acetabular and femoral bone marrow lesions reduced bone mineral density in the hip and femoral neck, but not in the spine, according to this study.
“Hip [bone marrow lesions] BMLs were associated with local [bone mineral density] BMD (hip and femoral neck) but not with spine BMD and these associations vary according to site,” the researchers wrote in their study. “BML prevalence and change was low in this study, hence these findings need confirmation. However, we hypothesize that these associations represent a combination of changes related directly to the BML pathology or changes adjacent to the disease process.”
The researchers studied the right hip in 198 subjects in the Tasmanian Older Adult Cohort for the presence of hip BMLs with MRI and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans done at time points about 2.6 years apart. They found an acetabular or femoral BML of the hip in 28% of the subjects. A 5% to 6% lower BMD was associated with the presence of an acetabular BML, according to the abstract.
Femoral BMLs that resolved were associated with 4% lower BMD, while incident femoral BMLs were associated with a 3% higher BMD on the femoral neck.
“[E]ach 1 cm2 change [in] acetabular BML size was associated with a decrease in total hip and femoral neck BMD ... [w]hereas per 1 cm2 increase in femoral BML size was positively associated with [an] increase in femoral neck BMD,” the researchers wrote.
Disclosure: This study was funded in part by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, Tasmania Community Fund, Masonic Centenary Medical Research Foundation, Royal Hobart Hospital Research Foundation and Arthritis Foundation of Australia.