Evaluation of Children with Secondary Osteoporosis: A Single-center Experience.

Objective: Children with chronic diseases are at a risk of inadequate bone mineralization due to the effects of the primary disease and/or treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics and treatment responses of patients with secondary osteoporosis. Methods: Forty-four patients with chronic diseases who had bone mineral density (BMD) Z-score of ≤-2.0 on the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) were included. Results: Age at diagnosis of osteoporosis was 9.2±4.9 years (1.4-17.7 years). Chronic disease groups were defined as gastrointestinal (29.5%), neurological (22.7%), hematologic (18.2%), inborn errors in metabolism (11.4%), rheumatologic (9.1%), and renal (9.1%). The rate of receiving steroid treatment was 63.6%. DXA Z-score was -2.8±0.9. The fracture frequency in the long bones was 20.5%. Bisphosphonate (BP) treatment was given in 34.1% (n = 15) of the patients. BP was the most commonly used in neurological diseases (50%). A significant difference was found between the initial and final DXA Z-scores in BP patients (-3.3±1.0 and -2.4±0.9; p=0.004). Conclusion: In our study, a heterogeneous group of chronic systemic diseases was evaluated, and BP treatment provided a significant improvement in BMD. Further prospective studies are still required in which clinical and radiological improvements are evaluated in large groups of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]