MedWire News: Spinal deformities are common in people with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, particularly in older men, researchers have found.

"Earlier studies have documented that the prevalence of decreased bone mineral density is elevated in patients with inflammatory bowel disease," explain Dr Caroline Heijckmann, from Hospital Bernhoven in Veghel, The Netherlands, and colleagues.

The team therefore investigated whether vertebral deformities, caused by small fractures, are also common in people with inflammatory bowel disease and whether they are a direct cause of low bone mineral density.

The researchers studied 109 patients with Crohn's disease and 72 with ulcerative colitis who underwent X-ray tests and other examinations.

Results of these tests revealed that 25% of both Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis patients showed evidence of vertebral deformities, which were significantly more common in men than in women.

Further analysis revealed no significant differences in bone mineral density between patients who did and did not have vertebral deformities.

Patients with multiple vertebral deformities tended to be older and had used glucocorticoid medications for a longer period than those with no or very few vertebral deformities.

Writing in the European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Dr Heijckmann and team conclude that in patients with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, "the prevalence of nonclinical vertebral deformities suggestive of vertebral fractures is substantial, even in patients with normal bone mineral density."

They add: "This implies that in addition to screening for osteoporosis by means of a bone mineral density measurement, morphometric assessment of vertebral deformities is warranted in inflammatory bowel disease as well... as a vertebral fracture is a strong predictor of a new fracture of the spine or at other sites."