Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 21, 2021; 27(27): 4481-4483
Published online Jul 21, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i27.4481
Is there higher percentage of undetected osteopenia and osteoporosis among patients with ulcerative colitis in Saudi Arabia?
Ivna Olic Akrapovic, Mislav Radic, Ante Tonkic
Ivna Olic Akrapovic, Intensive Care Unit of the Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Centre Split, Split 21000, Croatia
Mislav Radic, Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Centre of Excellence for Systemic Sclerosis Ministry of Health Republic of Croatia, University Hospital Centre Split, Split 21000, Croatia
Mislav Radic, Ante Tonkic, School of Medicine, University of Split, Split 21000, Croatia
Ante Tonkic, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Hospital Centre Split, Split 21000, Croatia
Author contributions: Akrapovic Olic I and Radic M designed research; Akrapovic Olic I performed research; Akrapovic Olic I and Radic M analyzed data; Akrapovic Olic I wrote the letter; Radic M and Tonkic A revised the letter.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mislav Radic, PhD, Assistant Professor, Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Centre of Excellence for Systemic Sclerosis Ministry of Health Republic of Croatia, University Hospital Centre Split, Soltanska 1, Split 21000, Croatia. mislavradic@gmail.com
Received: January 17, 2021
Peer-review started: January 17, 2021
First decision: February 23, 2021
Revised: March 29, 2021
Accepted: June 25, 2021
Article in press: June 25, 2021
Published online: July 21, 2021
Abstract

Detection of prevalence and development of osteopenia or osteoporosis in patients with inflammatory bowel disease using only bone mineral density could be inappropriate to detect all individuals at risk for osteoporosis. Numerous patients could remain undetected by using only bone mineral density as a screening method, especially in patients with ulcerative colitis. Therefore, trabecular bone score should be used as a complementary method.

Keywords: Inflammatory bowel disease, Osteoporosis, Bone mineral density, Trabecular bone score

Core Tip: Lower body mass index is a predictor of osteoporosis in patients with inflammatory bowel disease however, fracture risk can be increased desite normal bone mineral density. Therefore, use of trabecular bone score would ensure recruitment of individuals with normal bone mineral density at increased risk of fractures in trials.