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Prevalence of Vertebral Fractures in Men with Acromegaly

Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (G.M., S.B., I.P., A.G.), University of Brescia, 25018 Montichari, Italy; and Division of Endocrinology (A.B., V.C., A.F., A.P., L.D.M.), Catholic University, 800168 Rome, Italy

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Professor Andrea Giustina, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Brescia, c/o Endocrinology Service, Montichiari Hospital, Via Ciotti 154, 25018 Montichiari, Italy. E-mail: a.giustina{at}libero.it.

Context: Data on osteoporotic fractures in acromegaly are limited. An increased prevalence of radiological vertebral fractures was already observed in postmenopausal women with active acromegaly. It is unknown whether this observation may reflect a more general increased risk of fractures in acromegaly.

Design: This was a cross-sectional study.

Setting: The study was conducted at referral centers.

Patients and Control Subjects: Subjects included 40 males with acromegaly (25 patients with controlled disease and 15 patients with active disease) and 31 control males, with age and gonadal status comparable with the patients.

Interventions: Evaluation of vertebral fractures (quantitative morphometric analysis) and bone mineral density (BMD) at lumbar spine and total hip (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) was done.

Main Outcome Measure: Vertebral fractures were assessed.

Results: Although BMD was not significantly different between acromegalic patients and control subjects, the prevalence of vertebral fractures was higher in acromegalic patients as compared with the control subjects (57.5 vs. 22.6%; ²: 8.7; P = 0.003). Fractured and nonfractured acromegalic patients showed no significant difference in age and BMD Z-score. However, acromegalic patients with fractures had serum IGF-I values significantly higher and duration of active disease significantly longer with respect to patients without fractures. Moreover, patients with fractures showed significantly longer untreated hypogonadism as compared with patients without fractures. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, the duration of active acromegaly was the only risk factor significantly correlated with the occurrence of fractures (odds ratio 1.1, confidence interval 1.04–1.6).

Conclusions: This study reports for the first time a high prevalence of osteoporotic vertebral fractures in an unselected acromegalic male population generally considered at low risk of osteoporosis, suggesting that complicated osteoporosis is an important comorbidity of acromegaly.

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