Long-term changes in the tibia and radius bone mineral density following spinal cord injury.

DESIGN

A prospective inception cohort study with an observational analytic design in a spinal cord injury (SCI) centre hospital.

OBJECTIVE

To assess changes in trabecular and compact bone of the tibia and radius prospectively in subjects with SCI.

SUBJECTS: In total, 10 individuals with an acute SCI.

METHODS

Trabecular and compact bone density of the tibia and radius by peripheral quantitative computerised tomography.

RESULTS

Analysis of the individual gradients of the curve coefficient showed changes in trabecular bone between -0.19 and -2.46 and in cortical bone between +0.07 and -0.93 in the tibia within 34 months after the SCI. Both trabecular and cortical bone showed a group mean loss of 99 mg/cm(3). No changes were observed in the radius.

CONCLUSION

There is a major decrease in tibia mineral density over 3 years; however, no change is observed for the radius mineral content. Large interindividual differences existed in the patterns of loss in the tibia bone substance after SCI. These patterns indicate that there is no steady state of bone mineral density following 3 years of spinal cord injury.