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With great interest, we read the article on long-term corticosteroid therapy by Naganathan et al,¹ who reported an increased risk of vertebral deformity associated with the combination of increased age and glucocorticoid use. Osteoporosis and fractures are a major concern in patients receiving long-term glucocorticoid treatment (3 months). To estimate which proportion of our patients were receiving osteoporosis prevention during long-term glucocorticoid therapy, we randomly selected the charts of 51 patients who continuously received steroids for at least 3 months (between February 1997 and July 1999). The patients were either inpatients or outpatients (seen in the clinics or in the emergency department) who received steroids either orally or by injection. Any preventive measure (ranging from simple calcium supplementation to hormone replacement therapy) was qualified as "receiving some osteoporosis prevention," as opposed to receiving "no osteoporosis prevention whatsoever." Of the 51 patients in this retrospective study, 35 (68%) were female . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Vertebral Fracture Risk With Long-term Corticosteroid Therapy: Prevalence and Relation to Age, Bone Density, and Corticosteroid Use
Vasi Naganathan, Graeme Jones, Peter Nash, Geoff Nicholson, John Eisman, and Philip N. Sambrook
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