Anorexia and bone density

Assessment of bone mineral density in young women with anorexia nervosa by means of Radiofrequency Echographic Multispectrometry (REMS) technology.

1. Caffarelli¹, M. D. Tomai Pitinca¹, A. Al Refaie¹, M. De Vita¹, E. Giglio¹, P. Pisani², S. Gonnelli¹

¹Dept. of Medicine, Surgery and Neuroscience, University of Siena, Italy, Siena,

²National Research Council, Institute of Clinical Physiology, Lecce, Italy

This work aimed to evaluate the usefulness of the REMS technique in the assessment of bone health status in young women suffering from anorexia nervosa (AN). This disorder is known to have deleterious effects on bone mass, leading to a decreased bone mineral density (BMD) that in turn, increases the susceptibility to fractures. The study found that BMD estimations measured by REMS at both axial sites fully agreed with the DXA measurements. These findings raise the opportunity of using REMS, rather than DXA for bone investigations in this vulnerable patient category, who need regular BMD monitoring due to the absence of ionizing radiation. These findings draw attention to the employment of REMS, as a safer non-ionizing diagnostic tool compared to standard DXA for bone investigations of this vulnerable patient category, who strictly needs regular BMD monitoring.