Relation of otosclerosis and osteoporosis: A bone mineral density study

Otosclerosis and osteoporosis are metabolic bone diseases. In this paper, we investigated presence of osteoporosis with bone mineral density test in patients who had surgery for otosclerosis.

We included 27 patients who had conductive hearing loss and diagnosed with otosclerosis during an exploratory tympanotomy, and 30 healthy controls into this study. Bone mineral densitometry test was used for analysis of osteoporosis. T-scores of the patients and the controls obtained from L1-L4 vertebrae and femur neck were compared. In addition, the relations of duration of the disease, air and bone conduction thresholds, and air-bone gap in the operated ear with 25(OH)D3 levels, T-scores obtained from L1-L4 vertebrae and femur neck were investigated in the otosclerosis group.

T-score obtained from L1-L4 region was -1.14±1.05 in the otosclerosis group, and was -0.56±1.10 in the control group; the difference was statistically significant (p=0.045). The T-scores obtained from the femur neck were -0.59±0.82 and 0.03±0.74 in the otosclerosis and the control groups respectively, with a statistically significant difference in between (p=0.004). As the air and bone conduction thresholds and the air-bone gaps of the patients with otosclerosis increased, 25(OH)D3 levels and T-scores decreased, but the differences were not statistically significant.

The relation between otosclerosis and osteoporosis was shown with bone mineral density test in our study. T-scores of the otosclerosis patients were found smaller than the normal population.