Risk of osteoporosis in patients with chronic inflammatory neuropathy- a population-based cohort study

The risk of osteoporosis in patients with chronic inflammatory neuropathy (CIN) has not been evaluated in detail. We conducted a population-based case-control study nested in a retrospective cohort to analyze osteoporosis risk among patients with CIN using a nationwide database. Patients with CIN based on the Korean Classification of Disease diagnostic code were included and were matched to controls. A Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to evaluate the effect of CIN on osteoporosis. After propensity score matching, 585 CIN patients and 585 controls were selected. Patients with CIN had an increased osteoporosis risk (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.293, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.460–3.601) compared with controls. The osteoporosis risk was higher among male patients with CIN than among male controls (HR = 5.404, 95% CI 2.252–12.969), while there were no significant differences among women. Among the CIN patients, the average daily dose of corticosteroids was higher in those who developed osteoporosis (19.6 mg [10.8–49.3]) than those who did not (16.2 mg [7.2–29.1], p = 0.001). The osteoporosis risk among CIN patients is higher than among controls. High risk of osteoporosis in male patients may indicate that osteoporosis in CIN patients results from the disease itself or related treatments.