bone mineral density in egyptian children with familial mediterranean fever

background: familial mediterranean fever (fmf) has episodic or subclinical inflammation that may lead to a decrease in bone mineral density (bmd). the objective of this study was to assess bmd in egyptian children with fmf on genetic basis. methods: a cross sectional study included 45 fmf patients and 25 control children of both sexes in the age range between 3-16 years old. the patients were reclassified into two groups, namely group i(a) with 23 cases using colchicine for 1 month or less, and group i(b) with 22 cases using colchicine for more than 6 months. for both the patients and control groups, mefv mutations were defined using molecular genetics technique and bmd was measured by dxa at the proximal femur and lumbar spines. results: four frequent gene mutations were found in the patient group e148q (35.6%), v726a (33.3%), m680i (28.9%), and m694v (2.2%). there were also four heterozygous gene mutations in 40% of the control children. patients receiving colchicine treatment for less than 1 month had highly significant lower values of bmd at the femur and lumbar spines than the control children (p=0.007, p<0.001). patients receiving colchicine treatment for more than 6 months had improved values of bmd at femur compared with the control, but there were still significant differences between them in lumbar spine (p=0.036). there were insignificant effect of gene mutation type on bmd and the risk of osteopenia among the patients. conclusion: fmf had a significant effect on bmd. however, regular use of colchicine treatment improves this effect mainly at the femur.