Osteoporosis in Rheumatic Diseases, What's New?

Osteoporosis (OP) is a progressive systemic disease, characterized by low bone mass and micro-architecture deterioration of the bone tissue, with a consequent increase in bone fragility and fracture risk. Treatment of this disease often necessitates a multidisciplinary approach. OP may be classified as either primary or secondary. Primary OP is bone loss associated with the aging process in both men and women. Although the rate of activation of skeletal bone remodelling units in primary OP is normal, the filling of bone resorption pits is incomplete. Secondary OP is bone loss due to a variety of chronic medical conditions, such as medication effects or nutritional deficiencies. Most types of secondary OP show an increase in the activation rate of skeletal bone remodelling units, at least initially, to such an extent that an increased proportion of the skeleton undergoes remodelling at any given time.

Several studies have demonstrated that patients with rheumatic inflammatory diseases have an increased risk of low bone mass. In rheumatic diseases such as SSc and RA, the aetiology of bone loss is multifactorial and may be due to disability, age, longstanding diseases, low body mass index (BMI), chronic systemic inflammation and/or low vitamin D serum concentrations. Few studies have evaluated the role of new techniques e.g. trabecular bone score (TBS) and ultrasound, for the screening of OP.

The goal of this Research Topic is to make a summary of the situation based on our knowledge of osteoporosis in rheumatic diseases, paying particular attention to new discoveries on the use of innovative technologies, such as TBS or ultrasound.

Although we are interested in all types of manuscripts, we are particularly interested in case reports, literature reviews and brief and/or extended reports. All material must cover osteoporosis in rheumatic diseases studied and documented by laboratory and radiological assessments.