Bone Abstracts

A clinical and densitometric study was performed in the group of 62 adults with cerebral palsy (CP) under institutionalized care in the district of Przemyśl (Southern Poland), 12 of whom had the history of 15 radiologically confirmed non-phalangeal limb fractures. The study assessed correlation between the prevalence of fractures and age, body mass, locomotor abilities determined by Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), presence of epilepsy, antiepileptic drugs treatment and the values of T-score of bone mineral density (BMD) in the heel and forearm (distal radius), measured by DXA method with PIXI device. The study found significantly lower results of the BMD measurement in patients with past history of the fragility fractures and reduced body mass and also in the heel of the individuals with worse locomotor abilities assessed with the GMFCS. ROC analysis did not show statistically significant difference between the heel and forearm BMD in the efficiency of identifying the individuals with the history of fractures. Body mass in the group with prior fractures was higher than in the one without fractures.

Conclusions: Peripheral DXA (pDXA) allows the identification of individuals with increased risk of fracture among adults with CP. Description of locomotor abilities with GMFCS scale allows the estimation of BMD value, suitability of the scale in the assessment of fracture risk has not been demonstrated in the study.