In the MRIs of patients with rheumatic musculoskeletal diseases (RMD), a high prevalence of foot fractures was observed, even without the presence of osteoporosis, according to a study published in The Journal of Rheumatology. Jürgen Braun, PhD, and colleagues evaluated 1,145 MRIs of consecutive patients with foot pain in two time periods during 2016-2018. Controls with foot
pain without insufficiency fractures (IFs) were matched with patients with IF. DXA was used to assess bone mineral density (BMD). The majority of patients had RA (42.6%), followed by psoriatic arthritis (22.4%), axial spondylarthritis (11.1%), and connective tissue disease (7.6%). In 129 MRIs (7.5%), foot IFs were observed. IF incidence rates were highest in patients with connective tissue disease (23%) and RA (11.4%). Patients with an inflammatory RMD had a higher incidence of IF (9.15) than those with a noninflammatory RMD (4.1%; (P<0.001). IFs were only detected in 25% via conventional radiography. In patients with IFs, low BMD and fracture history were more frequent: 42.6% versus 16.2% and 34.9% versus 8.6%, respectively (P<0.001).
