Association between pulmonary fibrosis and osteoporosis in the elderly people: A case–control study

In this case–control study, we evaluated the association between osteoporosis and pulmonary fibrosis in the elderly. Participants were divided into a test group and a control group depending on bone mineral density and grid pattern changes of pulmonary fibrosis. We measured general conditions, related risk factors, serum biochemical index, grid pattern changes of double lungs, pulmonary function, arterial oxygen pressure (PO(2)), and bone mineral density of participates, and investigated the data through statistical analysis on SPSS 17.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Illinois, USA). Significant differences were observed between groups in all collected indices except PO(4). The ratio of pulmonary function disorder was higher in the test group versus the control group (12.0% vs 4.3%). Logistic regression shows that pulmonary fibrosis is a risk factor of osteoporosis, independent of age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, diabetes mellitus, alkaline phosphatase, glycosylated hemoglobin, Ca, PO(4), tumor necrosis factor-α, vitamin D total, ventilation disorder, diffusive dysfunction, and hypoxemia. Senile osteoporosis is closely associated with pulmonary fibrosis, diabetes mellitus, smoking, sexuality, age, and body mass index. Pulmonary fibrosis modestly affects the incidence of osteoporosis and thus is a more promising predictor of osteoporosis.