COMPARING THE BONE MINERAL DENSITY IN CHEMICAL INJURES AND NON-CHEMICAL ASMATIC PATIENTS

Aims: Mustard gas or Mustard Sulfur which was used during Iran-Iraq war is responsible for about one million chemical injured patients in Iran. In the previous studies, a decrease in spinal and femoral bone mineral density in patients who had the history of exposure to MSG, compared with control group, was observed. This study was conducted to compare the chemical and asthmatic patients using steroid for the treatment of polmunary complications. Materials & Methods: In this analytical cross-sectional study, 76 chemical injured patients exposed to MSG who referred to one of the Tehran city hospitals and 55 asthmatic patients without chemical injury were selected using randomized sampling method during 2006-08. A femoral and spinal Bone Mineral Densitometry (BMD) was performed for the patients using Dual X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) technique. The data was analysed using SPSS 15 software and statistical Chi-square, student T, Fisher exact and Mann-Whitney U tests. Results: There was no significant differences between femoral and spinal BMD's mean values in patients with the history of MSG exposure and Asthmatic patients (Power=23%; p>0.05). Totally, quantitative assessment showed 48% osteoporosis,40.8% osteopenia and 12.2% normal BMD in chemical exposed patients and 36.4% osteoporosis, 49.1% osteopenia and 14.5% normal BMD in Asthmatic patients. Conclusion: There is no significant difference between the femoral and spinal BMD in chemical and asthmatic patients.