Bone disease in alcohol abuse

Abstract

To the editor: Bikle and associates (1) have recently emphasized the relation between bone disease and alcoholism. In their eight patients, they found a marked reduction in active bone resorption and bone formation. Nevertheless, serum levels of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcifediol (25-hydroxyvitamin D3), calcitriol (1α, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3), parathyroid hormone, and nephrogenous cyclic adenosine monophosphate; and urinary levels of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium; and maximum tubular resorption of phosphate were normal. The authors therefore suggested that the bone disease in these patients was due to an inhibition of bone remodeling through a mechanism independent of the calciotropic hormones.