Objective: To identify the association between trabecular bone score (TBS) and other known risk factors for fractures in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.
Methods: One hundred female RA patients aged ≥50 years were enrolled. The following risk factors for fracture were selected: prevalent vertebral fracture (VF), bone mineral density (BMD), TBS, and 10-year probability of major osteoporotic fracture by FRAX® (MOF-FRAX scores). The associations between risk factors were identified, and accuracy of TBS, BMD, and FRAX scores to detect the prevalent VF, the strongest risk factor for future fracture, were assessed.
Results: Twenty-six patients were revealed to have moderate to severe VFs. There was a modest negative correlation between MOF-FRAX score and TBS (r = -0.367, p < 0.01), while there was no correlation between MOF-FRAX score and L-spine BMD (r = -0.050, p = 0.62). The areas under curves (AUCs) were 0.818, 0.683, and 0.518 for the MOF-FRAX score, TBS, and L-spine BMD, respectively. Among patients with glucocorticoids (GC) use (n = 57), AUCs were 0.762, 0.758, and 0.448 for their MOF-FRAX score, TBS, and L-spine BMD, respectively.
Conclusions: TBS showed better correlation with MOF-FRAX score than BMD, and it was superior to BMD in identifying prevalent VFs in RA patients, especially who are in use of GCs.
Keywords: Arthritis; Bone; Bone density; Fractures; Rheumatoid; Risk assessment; Trabecular bone score.