The Role of the Trabecular Bone Score in the Assessment of Osteoarticular Disorders in Patients with HFE-Hemochromatosis: A Single-Center Study from Poland

Type 1 hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) is an autosomal, recessive genetic entity with systemic iron overload. Iron homeostasis disorders develop as a result of HFE gene mutations, which are associated with hepcidin arthropathy or osteoporosis and may cause permanent disability in HH patients despite a properly conducted treatment with phlebotomies. In this study, selected parameters of calcium and phosphate metabolism were analyzed in combination with the assessment of bone mineral density (BMD) disorders in patients from northern Poland with clinically overt HFE-HH. BMD was determined by a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) test with the use of the trabecular bone score (TBS) function. The study included 29 HH patients (mean age = 53.14 years) who were compared with 20 healthy volunteers. A significantly lower TBS parameter and serum 25-OH-D3 concentration, a higher concentration of intact parathormone and more a frequent occurrence of joint pain were found in HH patients compared with the control group. In HH patients, the diagnosis of liver cirrhosis was associated with lower serum 25-OH-D3 and osteocalcin concentrations. In HH, DXA with the TBS option is a valuable tool in the early assessment of the bone microarchitecture and fracture risk. A supplementation of vitamin D, monitoring its concentration, should be considered especially in HH patients with liver damage and liver cirrhosis.