Chenbhanich J, et al. - The occurrence and risks of osteopenia and osteoporosis in Wilson's disease (WD) was investigated via a systematic review and meta-analysis. Though data on this topic was limited, potential associations of WD with osteopenia and/or osteoporosis were still suggested. Factors that correlated with the higher prevalence of osteoporosis in WD patients included young age and male status.

Methods

• From inception through April 2017, EMBASE and MEDLINE were searched.
• This analysis included studies assessing the occurrence or risk of osteopenia and/or osteoporosis inWD patients.
• Thereafter, effect estimates from the individual study were extracted and combined using random-effect, generic inverse variance method of DerSimonian and Laird.

Results

• A total of 4 (283 WD patients)/754 studies met the eligibility criteria and were included in the data analysis.
• Findings demonstrated that the pooled prevalence rates of osteopenia and osteoporosis in WD patients were 36.5% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 14.8%-65.7%) and 27.7% (95%CI: 8.6%-60.9%), respectively.
• Data also reported that on limiting meta-analysis only to adults, 50.0% (95%CI: 42.0%-58.0%), 17.6% (95%CI: 6.7%-38.6%) and 8.01% (95%CI: 4.05%-15.2%) were the estimated prevalence rates of osteopenia, osteoporosis, and vertebral fracture, respectively.
• In addition, using meta-regression, it was demonstrated that age (negative correlation; P=0.002) and male status (positive correlation;P < 0.001) significantly impacted the prevalence of osteoporosis.