Patients receiving kidney transplants and withdrawn from corticosteroid-based immunosuppression (CSBI) as early as possible after transplantation have significantly lower fracture rates compared with patients who continue receiving corticosteroids.

This finding was presented by a research presented at the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) 2011 Annual Meeting.

From Medscape.com:

Corticosteroids are known to be toxic to osteoblasts, and the drugs are typically given in exceptionally high doses after kidney transplants, potentially causing substantial bone loss, said coauthor Thomas L. Nickolas, MD, from Columbia University Medical School in New York City.

“Kidney transplant patients typically initially get very high intravenous doses of corticosteroids that are tapered down to a high oral dose, then to a small oral dose, by 6 months, but it is in that first 6 months after transplantation when the majority of bone loss occurs,” he explained.

Studies show that the bone loss at the lumbar spine and the hip during that initial 6 months posttransplantation can range from 2% to as much as 10%, he said.

The study was supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

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