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. 2022 Jul 5;13(4):57-66.
doi: 10.4292/wjgpt.v13.i4.57.

Overweight and abdominal fat are associated with normal bone mineral density in patients with ulcerative colitis

Mirella Brasil Lopes  1 , Andre Castro Lyra  1 , Raquel Rocha  2 , Fernanda Gomes Coqueiro  3 , Carla Andrade Lima  1 , Carolina Cunha de Oliveira  4 , Genoile Oliveira Santana  1   5
Affiliations

Overweight and abdominal fat are associated with normal bone mineral density in patients with ulcerative colitis

Mirella Brasil Lopes et al. World J Gastrointest Pharmacol Ther. .

Abstract

Background: Low bone mineral density (BMD) is common in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. However, nutritional risk factors for low BMD in the ulcerative colitis (UC) population are still poorly understood.

Aim: To investigate the association of anthropometric indicators and body composition with BMD in patients with UC.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study on adult UC patients of both genders who were followed on an outpatient basis. A control group consisting of healthy volunteers, family members, and close people was also included. The nutritional indicators evaluated were body mass index (BMI), total body mass (TBM), waist circumference (WC), body fat in kg (BFkg), body fat in percentage (BF%), trunk BF (TBF), and also lean mass. Body composition and BMD assessments were performed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.

Results: The sociodemographic characteristics of patients with UC (n = 68) were similar to those of healthy volunteers (n = 66) (P > 0.05). Most patients (97.0%) were in remission of the disease, 58.8% were eutrophic, 33.8% were overweight, 39.0% had high WC, and 67.6% had excess BF%. However, mean BMI, WC, BFkg, and TBF of UC patients were lower when compared to those of the control group (P < 0.05). Reduced BMD was present in 41.2% of patients with UC (38.2% with osteopenia and 2.9% with osteoporosis) and 3.0% in the control group (P < 0.001). UC patients with low BMD had lower BMI, TBM, and BFkg values than those with normal BMD (P < 0.05). Male patients were more likely to have low BMD (prevalence ratio [PR] = 1.86; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.07-3.26). Those with excess weight (PR = 0.43; 95%CI: 0.19-0.97) and high WC (PR = 0.44; 95%CI: 0.21-0.94) were less likely to have low BMD.

Conclusion: Patients with UC in remission have a high prevalence of metabolic bone diseases. Body fat appears to protect against the development of low BMD in these patients.

Keywords: Abdominal fat; Body composition; Bone mineral density; Fat body; Ulcerative colitis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Anthropometry and body composition according to bone mineral density in patients with ulcerative colitis. a P < 0.05 (Mann-Whitney test). BMI: Body mass index; TBM: Total body mass; WC: Waist circumference; BF: Body fat; TBF: Trunk body fat; LBM: Lean body mass.
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