Endocrine Abstracts

The aim of the study was to evaluate factors determining bone mineral density (BMD) and serum concentrations of osteocalcin (OC) and carboxyterminal telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP) in acromegaly. Material consisted of 121 patients with active acromegaly, aged 23–80 years. In the whole group BMD, assessed by DXA, was: 0.35±0.15 at L₂–L₄, 0.60±0.11 at femoral neck, 0.05±0.12 at Ward’s triangle and 0.59±0.13 at trochanter and was higher than normal at all sites excluding Ward’s. Mean serum OC was 31.7±2.2 ng/ml, and ICTP – 7.3±0.5 μg/l. OC and ICTP were higher than normal and positively correlated with each other and with IGF-I concentration. IGF-I was the main factor determining OC. For ICTP and Z-scores the most important were gonadal status and gender. ICTP negatively correlated with Z-scores. One third of the acromegalics were eugonadal, whereas 2/3 were hypogonadal. Z-scores in eugonadal group were higher than normal. Hypogonadal subjects had significantly lower Z-scores and higher ICTP than eugonadal ones. Of hypogonadal patients: 27% had osteopenia and 7% – osteoporosis. When compared to females, males had lower Z-scores and higher ICTP concentrations. Postmenopausal subjects had lower Z-scores than eugonadal females. In the group of women with gonadal function adequate to age the main factor determining Z-scores was estrogen deficiency.