Background: A long-term corticosteroid treatment is often required for children with nephrotic syndrome, which may affect their bone metabolism.
Objectives: The aim of this work was to study bone mineral density (BMD) and some laboratory markers of bone metabolism (serum osteocalcin, parathyroid hormone, and serum alkaline phosphatase) in a group of nephrotic children who received multiple courses prednisone.
Methods: We measured serum calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase (AP), osteocalcin (OC) and parathyroid hormone (PTH) in 30 children aged 3.8 to 12 years with steroid-dependent and frequently-relapsing nephortic syndrome (21 males and 9 females), and in 15 age and sex matched controls. Measurement of bone mineral density (BMD) was performed for patients and controls using quantitative computed tomography (QCT).
Results: Nephrotic children had significantly lower serum levels of alkaline phosphatase (189.9 ± 15.4 IU/I), and osteocalcin (1.7 ± 1.5 ng/ml) compared with controls (226.6 ± 85.5 IU/I and 4.8 ± 1.1 ng/ml, respectively), p ≤ 0.05 for each. Also, BMD was significantly lower in patients (118.2 ± 26.5 gm/cm³) compared with controls (150.3 ± 33.5 gm/cm³), p ≤ 0.05. A significantly positive correlation was found between BMD and serum osteocalcin level (R: 0.447, P: ˂ 0.05), and a significant negative correlation was found between BMD and total dose of prednisone (R:-0.546, p: ˂ 0.01).
Conclusions: Repeated courses of prednisone used for treatment of children with steroid-dependent and frequently-relapsing nephrotic syndrome lead to decreased bone mineral density with decreased serum levels of osteocalcin and alkaline phosphatase, while serum PTH remains normal in the absence of hypocalcemia.
Soliman, G., Fouda, M., Sayed, S., & Malek, I. (2004). Parathyroid Hormone, Osteocalcin, and Bone Mineral Density in Children with Steroid-Dependent and Frequently-relapsing Nephrotic Syndrome.. GEGET, 4(1), 71-77. doi: 10.21608/geget.2004.46081
MLA
Gamal Soliman; Mohamed Fouda; Samira Sayed; Ishak Malek. "Parathyroid Hormone, Osteocalcin, and Bone Mineral Density in Children with Steroid-Dependent and Frequently-relapsing Nephrotic Syndrome.", GEGET, 4, 1, 2004, 71-77. doi: 10.21608/geget.2004.46081
HARVARD
Soliman, G., Fouda, M., Sayed, S., Malek, I. (2004). 'Parathyroid Hormone, Osteocalcin, and Bone Mineral Density in Children with Steroid-Dependent and Frequently-relapsing Nephrotic Syndrome.', GEGET, 4(1), pp. 71-77. doi: 10.21608/geget.2004.46081
VANCOUVER
Soliman, G., Fouda, M., Sayed, S., Malek, I. Parathyroid Hormone, Osteocalcin, and Bone Mineral Density in Children with Steroid-Dependent and Frequently-relapsing Nephrotic Syndrome.. GEGET, 2004; 4(1): 71-77. doi: 10.21608/geget.2004.46081
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