بررسي ميزان تراكم استخوان در بيماران مبتلا به آرتريت روماتوييد در استان خوزستان

In rheumatoid arthritis , Osteoporosis initially occurs in bones around joints (juxta - articular) and later progrsses to become diffuse leading to pathologic fractures which are the most important complications of Rheumatoid Arthritis. Taking into consideration the high prevalence rate of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Khoozestan , this study was carried out to determine the rate of osteoporosis in Rheumatoid Arthritis patients of this province. In this study which extended over one year , 183 female patients with Mean age of 45.3 years were studied and an equal number women with a mean age of 48 years were included as the control group. The density of the bone of the spinal column (L2-L4) and the femoral neck were measured using dual X - Ray absorptionetry at the Apadana hospital of Ahwaz. The study revealed that 40.4% of the patients suffered from osteoporosis of which 15.3 % had only femoral neck involvement , 5.4% had only lumbar spine involement , while in 19.6% both the regions were invobved .The Study demonstrated a significant statistical difference between the BMD of the lumbar sacral bones of the two groups (P<0.05) but this difference was not significant for the femoral head (P> 0.05).