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. 2021 Nov 24:16:3189-3199.
doi: 10.2147/COPD.S335029. eCollection 2021.

Lower Prevalence of Osteoporosis in Patients with COPD Taking Anti-Inflammatory Compounds for the Treatment of Diabetes: Results from COSYCONET

Kathrin Kahnert  1 , Rudolf A Jörres  2 , Tanja Lucke  2 , Franziska C Trudzinski  3 , Pontus Mertsch  1 , Christiane Bickert  1 , Joachim H Ficker  4 , Jürgen Behr  1 , Robert Bals  5 , Henrik Watz  6 , Tobias Welte  7 , Claus F Vogelmeier  8 , Peter Alter  8 ; COSYCONET Study Group
Affiliations

Lower Prevalence of Osteoporosis in Patients with COPD Taking Anti-Inflammatory Compounds for the Treatment of Diabetes: Results from COSYCONET

Kathrin Kahnert et al. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often have osteoporosis and diabetes as comorbid conditions. Anti-diabetic medication, including metformin, has protective effects on osteoporosis in experimental studies. We therefore studied whether patients with COPD receiving anti-diabetic medication had a lower osteoporosis prevalence in a large COPD cohort, COSYCONET.

Methods: Assessment of osteoporosis was based on patients' reports of physician-based diagnoses and the presence of disease-specific medication. The predictive value of physical characteristics, lung function, comorbidities, cardiovascular medication, and the use of anti-inflammatory diabetes medication, including metformin, sulfonylureas, glinides or DPP4I, was evaluated using logistic regression analysis. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01245933.

Results: In total, 2222 patients were eligible for analysis (863 [39%] female, mean age 65 y), 515 of whom had higher symptoms and exacerbations (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease group D). Osteoporosis was present in 15.8% of the overall cohort, and in 24.1% of GOLD D patients. Regression analyses identified the following as associated with osteoporosis (p < 0.05): female sex, higher age, lower body-mass index, asthma, higher air trapping, oral steroids, and cardiovascular medication. Although oral anti-diabetic medication was overall not associated with a lower prevalence of osteoporosis (p = 0.131), anti-inflammatory anti-diabetic medication (p = 0.009) and metformin-containing therapy (p = 0.039) were. This was driven by GOLD D patients.

Conclusion: In a large COPD cohort, anti-inflammatory diabetes therapy, including metformin, was associated with a lower prevalence of osteoporosis, especially in patients with higher symptoms and exacerbations. These findings suggest a protective effect of common anti-diabetic medication on osteoporosis, possibly as a result of attenuated systemic inflammation.

Keywords: anti-inflammatory; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; diabetes; inhaled corticosteroids; metformin; oral corticosteroids.

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Conflict of interest statement

Professor Joachim H Ficker reports personal fees from Boehringer-Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, and GSK; personal fees, non-financial support from CSL Behring and Novartis, outside the submitted work. Professor Jürgen Behr reports personal fees from Boehringer-Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, and Novartis, outside the submitted work. Professor Robert Bals reports COSYCONET is supported by the German Centre for Lung Research (DZL), grant number 82DZLI05A2 (COSYCONET), the BMBF, grant number 01GI0881 and also received unrestricted grants from AstraZeneca GmbH, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, GlaxoSmithKline GmbH&Co. KG, Grifols Deutschland GmbH, and Novartis Deutschland GmbH. Professor Bals also reports grants, and/or personal fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Grifols, Novartis, CSL Behring, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Competence Network Asthma and COPD (ASCONET), Sander Stiftung, Schwiete Stiftung, Krebshilfe, and Mukoviszidose eV, outside the submitted work. Professor Claus F Vogelmeier reports personal fees, and/or grants from Aerogen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSL Behring, Chiesi, GlaxoSmithKline, Grifols, Menarini, Novartis, Nuvaira, and MedUpdate, outside the submitted work. The authors declare that they have no other competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Results of logistic regression analyses in either the total population of patients or those in GOLD group D, demonstrating the significant effect of anti-inflammatory diabetes medication in both.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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