Metabolic Bone Disease

metabolic bone disease, any of several diseases that cause various abnormalities or deformities of bone. Examples of metabolic bone diseases include osteoporosis, rickets, osteomalacia, osteogenesis imperfecta, marble bone disease (osteopetrosis), Paget disease of bone, and fibrous dysplasia. In clinical terms, metabolic bone diseases may result in bone pain and loss of height (due to compression of vertebrae), and they predispose patients to fractures.

The skeleton, like many other tissues of the body, undergoes a constant process of breakdown and renewal. This ongoing process of bone resorption and formation permits the skeleton to adjust to the changes required for healthy functioning and subtle remodeling to maintain maximal bone strength and to the changes required for healing fractures. Normal bone provides rigid support and is not brittle. It consists of two major components: a protein matrix, called osteoid, and mineral complexes. Osteoid consists mostly of a fibrous protein called collagen, while the mineral complexes are made up of crystals of calcium and phosphate, known as hydroxyapatite, that are embedded in the osteoid. Bone also contains nutritive cells called osteocytes. However, the major metabolic activity in bone is carried out by osteoblasts, which generate the protein matrix, and osteoclasts, which are large multinucleated cells that digest and dissolve the components of bone.

Most metabolic diseases of bone are defined by the extent to which they reduce bone density. Bone density can be measured in different bones using radiologic techniques. The bones commonly measured are the bones of the lumbar spine, hip, and radius (a bone in the forearm), and the most widely used procedure is dual X-ray absorptiometry. Bone density peaks at about the age of 30 and varies according to sex and genetic background. For example, bone density is higher in men than in women and is higher in African Americans than in Europeans or Asians. The results of measurements of bone density (bone densitometry) are usually expressed in terms of the patient’s bone density in relation to the mean peak bone density of people of the same sex and genetic background. The result is a measurement known as the T score. Osteopenia is defined as bone density that is more than one standard deviation below peak bone density (T score −1), and osteoporosis is defined as bone density that is two and a half or more standard deviations below the mean peak bone density (T score −2.5). The results of measurements of bone density can also be expressed as Z scores. A Z score of 0 is the mean bone density of people of the same age, sex, and genetic background. Low T or Z scores are associated with an increased risk of bone fracture.