Abstract
BackgroundAluminium is considered a bone toxic metal since poisoning can lead to aluminium-induced bone disease in patients with chronic renal failure. Healthy subjects with normal renal function retain 4% of the aluminium consumed. They might thus also accumulate aluminium and eventually be at risk of long-term low-grade aluminium intoxication that can affect bone health.MethodsWe therefore examined 62 patients with femoral neck fractures or osteoarthritis of the hip (age range 38–93), with the aim of examining whether aluminium in bone is associated with bone-mineral density (BMD), content (BMC) or width of the femoral neck measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). During operations bone biopsies were taken from the trabecular bone of the proximal femur. The samples were measured for their content of aluminium using a mass spectrometer.ResultsNo significant association between the aluminium content in bone and femoral neck BMD, BMC or width could be found after multivariate adjustment.ConclusionOur results indicate that the accumulated aluminium content in bone during life does not substantially influence the extent of osteoporosis.
Highlights
Aluminium is considered a bone toxic metal since poisoning can lead to aluminiuminduced bone disease in patients with chronic renal failure
We found an increase in aluminium content of bone with age (R2 = 0.3, p < 0.0001)
Using a crude linear-regression analysis model, we found a strong association between aluminium and bone-mineral density (BMD) as well as with BMC, but after multivariate adjustment including age these associations did not remain significant
Summary
Aluminium is considered a bone toxic metal since poisoning can lead to aluminiuminduced bone disease in patients with chronic renal failure. Healthy subjects with normal renal function retain 4% of the aluminium consumed. They might accumulate aluminium and eventually be at risk of long-term low-grade aluminium intoxication that can affect bone health. Osteoporosis is a common disease in the elderly, and is characterised by a generalised reduction in bone-mineral density (BMD) or mass (BMC), microarchitectural deterioration of bone tissue and an increased risk of low-energy fractures. One potential environmental factor of interest for bone disease, is the third most common element in the earth's crust and the most abundant metal (8%), and is widely utilised in industry. Aluminium levels are higher in an acidified environment due to acid (page number not for citation purposes)
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