The impact of body composition on vertebral fractures during aromatase inhibitors therapy: A cross-sectional study.

e12504Background: Aromatase-inhibitors (AIs) decrease the bone mineral density (BMD) and increase the risk of clinical fractures but the mechanism underlying the increased fracture risk (FR) is not fully elucidated. In healthy post menopausal women obesity is associated with lower FR due the protective effect of elevated estrogen levels. However this mechanism cannot be extended to AI treated pts since estrogens are deeply inhibited. We designed a cross sectional study to explore the effect of Fat body mass (FBM) on the risk of morphometric vertebral fracture (VF) in postmenopausal estrogen receptor positive breast carcinoma (BC) submitted to adjuvant AI therapy. Methods: From October 2013 to May 2017 315 EBC patients (pts) were recruited. All pts underwent a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) for the assessment of BMD, morphometric evaluation of VFs and body composition at baseline and after at least one year of AI therapy. Results: 187 pts were AI naive and 128 AI treated, and the prevalence of VFs ...