Abstract P3-03-26: Osteopenia and osteoporosis in women with breast cancer in Taiwan: single center retrospective data
Authors: Liu Chia-Hua , Hung Chih-Chiang , Tsai I-Chen 
Published: March 2023

Purpose: Osteopenia and osteoporosis are commonly encounter in elder women. One third of women elder than fifty years suffer a fracture second to osteoporosis around the world. Standard treatments for breast cancer such as chemotherapy or hormonal therapy may increase the risk of both osteopenia and osteoporosis. Premenopausal women treated with standard adjuvant chemotherapy frequently develop ovarian failure, or early menopause, which is associated with accelerated bone loss. Trabecular bone score (TBS), an index extracted by DXA that provides an indirect measurement of bone axial microarchitecture. In addition to the BMD, TBS are warranted to improve the prediction of fracture risk at the individual level. However, due to regulations of National Health Insurance in Taiwan, data are limited on the incidence of osteopenia and osteoporosis in women with breast cancer in Taiwan. In this study, we investigated the proportion of osteopenia and osteoporosis in women with breast cancer in Taiwan.

Materials and Methods: There were enrolled 201 female who diagnosed with breast cancer between May 2019 and December 2020 in this retrospective study. Patients with bone metastasis (n=11) and double cancer(n=3) were excluded. All patients received dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) at least once, including bone mineral density (BMD), T-score (spine and total hip) and trabecular bone score (TBS) data. The data were retrospectively analyzed baseline age, BMD, breast cancer type, aromatase inhibitors (AIs) usage status by Kruskal-Wallis test.

Results: Basing on the lowest T-score from measurements at the spine or total hip, 58.8% (n=110) of osteopenia (-2.5≤T←1) and 27.8%(n=52) of osteoporosis (T←2.5) were identified in women with breast cancer (figure1). Statistics significance was noted in patients’ age and BMI between three groups. There was no difference in bone mineral density according to breast cancer subtype. (table 1) Patients who ever use aromatase inhibitors (n=90) had lower BMD (T=-2.14) and trabecular bone score (TBS=1.3) than non-AI group (n=97, T=-1.84, TBS=1.34). (figure 2) (table 2)

Conclusions: According to Taiwan’s NHI sampling data from 1999 to 2001, the averaged prevalence of osteoporosis in those aged ≥50 years was 11.35% for women. Breast cancer survivors are at higher risk for osteopenia and osteoporosis compared to cancer-free women in Taiwan. Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) group had lower BMD and TBS (p&lt; 0.05). In our study, forty percent of TNBC patients diagnosed osteoporosis, which is compatible with increased bone loss due to chemotherapy-induced ovarian failure. Therefore, clinicians should be aware not only of AI-associated bone loss but also of patients who ever accepted long-term chemotherapy. A normal range for TBS values in postmenopausal women has been proposed: a TBS of ≥1.350 is considered normal; a TBS between 1.20 and 1.35 is considered consistent with partially degraded microarchitecture, and a TBS of ≤ 1.200 defines degraded microarchitecture. In our study, mean TBS in women with breast cancer (n=187) is 1.32. Further research is needed to determine the validity of cut-points for guiding treatment decisions.

Figure 1. Inclusion/exclusion criteria and flow chart Figure 1. Inclusion/exclusion criteria and flow chart

Table 1

Figure 2. Aromatase inhibitors group had lower BMD and Trabecular bone score Figure 2. Aromatase inhibitors group had lower BMD and Trabecular bone score

Citation Format: Chia-Hua Liu, Chih-Chiang Hung, I-Chen Tsai. Osteopenia and osteoporosis in women with breast cancer in Taiwan: single center retrospective data [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-03-26.