Assessment of the 10-Year Probability of Fracture Using Femoral Neck (FRAX) and Lumbar BMD (FRAXplus) in Menopausal Women with Non-Functioning Adrenal Tumors: Where We Stand Today (A Study-Focused Analysis)

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine Vol. 14; no. 7; p. 2302
• Main Authors: Stanciu, Mihaela, Sima, Oana-Claudia, Costachescu, Mihai, Valea, Ana, Nistor, Claudiu, Trandafir, Alexandra-Ioana, Tanasescu, Denisa, Nistor, Tiberiu Vasile Ioan, Ciobica, Mihai-Lucian, Carsote, Mara
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 27.03.2025; MDPI
• Subjects: Abdomen; Body mass index; Bone density; Fractures; Hormones; Menopause; Metabolism; Osteoporosis; Patients; Tomography; Tumors; Womens health; bone mineral density; cortisol; FRAX; adrenal; menopause; FRAXplus; DXA; osteoporosis; fracture risk; surgery
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm14072302

Background/Objective: Osteoporotic fractures may be prevalent, as expected, in patients with primary osteoporosis such as menopause-related or age-related bone loss, but a supplementary contribution to the risk may be added by less than common conditions, including a non-functioning adrenal tumor with or without mild autonomous cortisol secretion (MACS). Many of the standard fracture risk-related elements are captured by the FRAX model; yet, novel insights are brought by an improved algorithm, namely, FRAXplus. Our objective was to analyze the fracture risk in menopausal females diagnosed with low bone mineral density (BMD) and MACS-negative adrenal incidentalomas using FRAXplus (lumbar BMD adjustment). Methods: This as a retrospective, multi-center study of 66 menopausal women, where 50% of them had non-MACS adrenal tumors (group A), and 33 were controls (group B). They were put into four sub-groups, either group A1 (N = 14/33 subjects with normal DXA), or A2 (19/33 subjects with lowest T-score < −1), or group B1 (14/33) where subjects had normal DXA, or group B2 (19/33) for subjects with low BMD. Results: The sub-groups were matched on age, body mass index, and years since menopause, as well BMD matched (A versus B, A1 versus B1, A2 versus B2). FRAX analysis showed similar results for 10-year probability between groups A and B, and A2 and B2, while lumbar BMD adjustment showed statistically significant lower risk in group A1 versus B1 (p = 0.013), but not for hip fracture (p = 0.064). Conclusions: we introduced a pilot study in the FRAXplus model regarding adrenal tumors diagnosed in menopausal females with or without low BMD at central DXA assessment, a pilot study that to the best of our knowledge represents the first of this kind due to the novelty of using this fracture risk calculator with lumbar BMD adjustment. FRAXplus algorithm might be a better discriminator for fracture risk in these patients since we found that in age-, BMI-, and years since menopause-matched sub-groups, patients with normal DXA and MACS-free adrenal incidentalomas display a lower 10-year probability of major osteoporotic fractures than controls upon lumbar BMD adjustment.