1983 Volume 26 Issue 9 Pages 921-930
In order to elucidate the influence of diabetes mellitus on osteopenia, the bone mineral content at midradius (radial mineral content, RMC) was measured by photon absorptiometry in 90 patients with diabetes mellitus (32 IDDM, 58 NIDDM) and 65 normal controls.
It was suggested that there were different pathogenetic factors of bone mineral loss between ID DM and NIDDM.
In IDDM, the RMC was inversely correlated to the duration of diabetes (p<0.05) and to mean fasting blood glucose (p<0.05) and also diminished significantly in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy and/or severe neuropathy Moreover, the RMC was also significantly lower in IDDM withMOnckeberg's medial arteriosclerosis as compared to those without these findings (p<0.05).
In NIDDM, on the other hand, there was no significant correlation with any of these clinical features of diabetes.
The serum calcium, phosphorus, immunoreactive parathyroid hormone and alkaline phosphatase levels were all within normal range in all diabetics. However, the values of the urinary excretion rate of calcium correlated positively with the degree of hyperglycemia (p<0.01).
These results suggest that the bone mineral loss in patients with diabetes mellitus may be explained, in part, by the continued deterioration of metabolic control and/or the excess of urinary calcium excretion.
