Bone mineral density in familial Mediterranean fever

The aim of this study was to evaluate the bone mineral density (BMD) in familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) and to search the effects of genetic factors, family history of FMF and types of clinical attacks on BMD. Forty-four attack-free patients with FMF and 36 healthy voluntary subjects were included in the study. BMD measurements of lumbar spine and left proximal femur were performed by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). There was no statistically significant difference between patient and control groups regarding median values of lumbar BMD (P = 0.06), lumbar T (P = 0.08) and Z (P = 0.12) scores, femoral neck BMD (P = 0.13), femoral T (P = 0.22) and Z (P = 0.16) scores and total femur BMD (P = 0.14), T (P = 0.19) and Z (P = 0.27) scores. Patients with negative FMF family history had significantly lower femoral neck BMD (P = 0.018), femoral neck T (P = 0.009) and Z (P = 0.01) scores and total femur BMD (P = 0.033) than patients with positive FMF family history. There was no significant difference among the groups regarding mutation characteristic and types of attacks in lumbar BMD, T and Z scores, femoral neck BMD, T and Z scores and total femur BMD, T and Z scores (P > 0.05). We found that the bone loss of patients with FMF is not different from that of the controls. The increased bone loss in the patients with negative family history for FMF should be further investigated with larger patient groups taking into consideration of the risk factors related to family history for osteoporosis.