Bone mineral density in XXXX : the effect of gender, disease activity and gonadal status.

@entity1 @entity442 @entity79 @entity2012 @entity6126
OBJECTIVE: Data on @entity79 ( @entity79 ) in @entity2012 are conflicting as most previous studies collectively evaluated eugonadal and @entity6126 @entity1 of both sexes, with or without active disease. We have evaluated @entity79 in 152 acromegalic @entity1 of both sexes with varying disease activity and gonadal status. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, retrospective. @entity1 : We studied 152 acromegalic @entity1 (99 @entity1 aged 26-72 years, and 53 @entity1 aged 21-75 years), 107 with active and 45 with controlled disease. Eighty-five @entity1 had normal gonadal status and 67 were @entity6126 . MEASUREMENTS: In all @entity1 we measured serum GH levels by immunoenzimometric assay, and serum @entity442 levels by radioimmunoassay. @entity79 was assessed at spine L2-L4 (LS) and at femoral neck (FN) by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry; results are expressed as Z-values. RESULTS: We evaluated the effect of GH excess on bone at different sites in relation to gonadal status, disease activity and gender. At LS, in respect to the reference population, @entity79 (mean +/- SE) values were higher in eugonadal @entity1 (active: 0.71 +/- 0.29, P < 0.02; controlled: 0.65 +/- 0.28, P < 0.05) and lower in @entity6126 ones (active: -0.64 +/- 0.35, 0.1 < P < 0.05; controlled: -1.05 +/- 0.36, P < 0.01), regardless of disease activity. On the contrary, at FN, @entity79 was higher than in the reference population, both in eugonadal (1.01 +/- 0.22, P < 0.001) and @entity6126 (0.63 +/- 0.17, P < 0.001) @entity1 only in subjects with active disease, but not in those in which the disease was controlled (eugonadal: 0.31 +/- 0.23, P = ns; @entity6126 0.04 +/- 0.28, P = ns). We did not observe any difference in @entity79 values according to gender both at LS (males vs. females -0.02 +/- 0.30 vs. 0.01 +/- 0.24, P = ns) or at FN (0.77 +/- 0.19 vs. 0.63 +/- 0.15, P = ns). CONCLUSIONS: The anabolic effect of GH excess on bone in acromegalic @entity1 is: (i) gender-independent; (ii) evident at the spine only in eugonadal regardless of disease activity; (iii) evident at femoral neck only in the presence of active disease regardless of gonadal status.
