Naito T, et al. - Researchers sought for the clinical and genetic risk factors for low bone mineral density (BMD) in 266 Japanese patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Body mass index, age, and disease duration were noted to have an independent association with the BMD of the femoral neck, and body mass index and sex were found to be associated with the BMD of the lumbar spine. In genome-wide association analysis, they identified 118 and 42 candidate SNPs of the femoral neck and lumbar spine, respectively. Among 118, they located 111 candidate SNPs of the femoral neck within the SLC22A23 gene, which is a known IBD susceptibility gene. Among 42, they located 18 candidate SNPs of the lumbar spine within the MECOM gene, which is associated with osteopenia. However, none of the known loci demonstrated a marked association with BMD.