SKELETAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT IN BRAZILIAN MEN WITH CELIAC DISEASE AT DIAGNOSIS: HOW IMPORTANT IS IT?

Low bone mass density (BMD) is an extraintestinal finding in celiac disease (CD). This may result in bone fractures leading to loss in quality of life.

To assess BMD in male CD patients at diagnosis according to the patient's age.

Descriptive retrospective carried out during the period between 2013 and 2023 in a single office that studied dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) results in 28 male patients with a recent diagnosis of CD, divided into three groups: group 1 (age up to 18 years); group 2 (from 19 to 49 years of age) and group 3 (over 50 years of age). Were studied demographic and anthropometric parameters, time delay between symptoms onset and CD diagnosis and fracture occurrence.

Celiac patients studied had median age 36.0 years (IQR=16.5-50.7). Among them, 39.3% had osteopenia and 14.3% had osteoporosis. Only 36% of the sample had normal DXA values (group 1 with 37.5%; group 2 with 46% and group 3 with 14.2%). No pathological fracture was observed in this sample. CD diagnosis delay observed had median 1.0 year (IQR=1.0-4.7). When the number of individuals with normal and abnormal DXA results were compared, there was no difference in body mass index, time of diagnosis delay or Marsh classification (P=0.18).

Male patients at the time of CD diagnosis showed a high prevalence of low BMD, which was particularly evident in individuals over 50 years of age.