Bone loss in prednisone treated sarcoidosis: a two-year follow-up.

We followed up 35 sarcoid patients treated with prednisone for two years in order to evaluate bone mineral loss over time. Vertebral cancellous mineral content was detected by quantitative computed tomography and calibration phantom before beginning prednisone therapy and monitored two more times at yearly intervals. The percent mineral loss (ML%) averaged -13.9 +/- 2.1 at the end of the first year and -15.3 +/- 2.6 at the end of second year. We conclude first, that the time course of mineral loss in prednisone treated sarcoidosis is similar to that of other diseases such as asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. In a separate group of 10 early postmenopausal females, we observed a greater ML% averaging -21.9 +/- 16.6 and -26.2 +/- 18.5, at the end of the first and second year respectively. Our second conclusion was thus that the synergic effect of postmenopausal status and prednisone therapy results in an ML% far more significant than expected from the two single conditions.