Fragility fractures (FF) are common in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), and they occur at a younger age and with a higher frequency than in the general population, producing significant morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. The pathogenic mechanisms underlying FF in CKD patients have not been completely understood. Behind CKD-MBD, the uremic toxicity should play a role in their pathogenesis, by affecting bone quality (uremic osteoporosis). There are very few prospective studies investigating risk factors for fragility fractures in CKD patients, and available algorithms for fracture risk prediction (FRAX and DeFRA) have never considered CKD. The diagnosis of vertebral fractures (FV), under-diagnosed in CKD patients as well as in general population, should be performed by Quantitative Vertebral Morphometry (QVM) both with DXA or Spine (D4-L5) x-Ray. A recent KDIGO review has qualified the measurement of the Bone Mineral Density by DXA as a predictive tool for fracture risk assessment in patients with stage G3a-G5D. Furthermore, the Trabecular Bone Score (TBS, software applied to DXA) allows the bone quality evaluation as well as the fracture risk prediction. Other techniques, such as Quantitative Computerized Tomography (QCT), especially High Resolution-peripheral QCT (HR-pQCT), have been shown to be useful, although expensive. Finally, some bone biomarkers (PTH and BAP) demonstrated to be informative for the definition of fracture risk in patients with CKD-MBD. In conclusion, there are several different tools and approaches that demonstrated to be useful for the identification of CKD patients at high risk of fracture, when these are appropriately performed and interpreted by expertise clinicians.
Keywords: Chronic Kidney Disease; Dialysis; Fragility Fractures; Osteoporosis.
Copyright by Società Italiana di Nefrologia SIN, Rome, Italy.