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Comparative Study
. 2018 Jan 11;13(1):e0191013.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0191013. eCollection 2018.

Peripheral quantitative computed tomography detects differences at the radius in prepubertal children with cystic fibrosis compared to healthy controls

Catherine E O'Brien  1 , Gulnur Com  2 , John Fowlkes  3 , Xinyu Tang  4 , Laura P James  4   5
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Peripheral quantitative computed tomography detects differences at the radius in prepubertal children with cystic fibrosis compared to healthy controls

Catherine E O'Brien et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Introduction: In 2015, 11.9% of people with cystic fibrosis (CF) in the United States had osteopenia, 5.1% osteoporosis, and 0.3% experienced a fracture. Screening for CF-related bone disease starts in childhood, and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is the recommended method. It is unknown whether peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) can detect deficits earlier than DXA. This study compared pQCT and DXA scans in a group of pre-pubertal children with CF and healthy controls.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of children at Tanner stage 1. A pQCT scan of the radius at proximal and distal sites was performed plus a total body DXA scan. Serum C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha were also measured.

Results: A total of 34 subjects completed the study; 14 with CF and 20 controls. At the distal radius, pQCT showed a lower total bone mineral density (BMD) Z-score for the CF group (P = 0.01 and P = 0.03 for 2 different reference databases) compared to controls. At the proximal site, the polar strength-strain index was lower in the CF group (P = 0.017). Finally, the total body BMD Z-score by DXA was lower in the CF group, although it did not meet the definition of reduced bone density (P = 0.004). Biomarkers of inflammation were not different.

Conclusions: In this group of pre-pubertal children with CF, measures of bone strength and density by both pQCT and DXA were reduced compared to healthy controls.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: The spouse of Catherine O'Brien owns stock in Radius Health. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

References

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