Objective To identify the clinical features and risk factors of early rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-associated osteoporosis in premenopausal women. Methods A total of 76 premenopausal women with early RA were randomly selected in the Department of Kidney and Rheumatology in the hospital. A total of 84 health cases were randomly selected in our hospital as controls. Bone mineral density (BMD) was determined using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEX). Bone metabolism (CTX, PINP) and inflammatory cytokines (IL-17, IL-6, TNF-α) were examined with quantitative enzyme-linked immune-sorbent assay (ELISA). Quantitative data were expressed as x ±s deviation and the data were compared between groups using non- parametric test (Z value). Multi-group comparison was performed with variance analysis. Qualitative data were compared with Fisher's test. Logistic regression was used to investigate the risk factors. Results ①Compared with the control group, BMD in the premenopausal women with early RA group [neck: (0.802 ±0.193) g/cm2, GT zone: (0.923±0.033) g/cm2, L1: (0.862±0.011) g/cm2] was significantly decreased [(0.981±0.032) g/cm2, (0.771 ±0.023) g/cm2, (0.912 ±0.012) g/cm2, F=14.401, 19.860, 6.560, respectively, both P<0.05). The prevalence of osteoporosis in this group was 7%(5/76), which was higher than controls 1%(1/84). ② According to values of Bone meta-bolism [(CTX: (0.37±0.21) ng/ml] and inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α: (9.8±4.1) pg/ml, IL-6: (33.6±5.7) pg/ml and IL-17: (129±24) pg/ml were markedly increased in premenopausal women in early RA group [(0.24 ±0.09) ng/ml, (6.7 ±1.9) pg/ml, (1.5 ±0.4) pg/ml, (45 ±7) pg/ml, Z=2.722, 5.932, 7.501, 4.370, respectively, both P<0.05]. ③ The premenopausal women with early RA group with osteoporosis were signifi- cantly difference with controls in BMI [(9±3) kg/m2 vs (16±3) kg/m2], bone density of neck [(0.85±0.20) ng/ml vs (0.88±0.14) g/cm2], L2 [(0.75±0.23) g/cm2 vs (0.88±0.14) g/cm2], L3 [(0.87±0.07) g/cm2 vs (0.93±0.14) g/cm2], L4 [(0.92±0.12) g/cm2 vs (0.94±0.16) g/cm2], serum ESR [47.8(22.0, 76.0) mm/1 h vs 18.8(8.7, 35.2) mm/1 h] and DAS28-CRP (5.3 ±1.2 vs 3.8 ±1.2) F=0.68, 14.632, 26.114, 20.931, 36.582, Z=3.21, 6.58, respectively, both P<0.05. ④ Logistic regression showed that IL-6 (Wald χ2=5.78, P=0.021), PINP (Wald χ2=5.12, P=0.031), CTX (Wald χ2=9.17, P=0.003), ESR (Wald χ2=9.24, P=0.011), DAS28-CRP (Wald χ2=17.28, P=0.001) were significantly positively correlated with osteoporosis. Moreover, ordered unconditional Logistic regression analysis of the variables (IL-6, PINP, CTX, ESR, DSA28) described above showed that DAS 28-CRP score [OR=1.58, 95%CI: (1.10, 2.20)] was the most important risk factor for osteoporosis in premenopausal women with early RA. Conclusion The incidence of osteoporosis is high in premenopausal women with early RA than healthy cases. DAS 28-CRP score is the important risk factor for premenopausal women with early RA- associated osteoporosis. Measures relieve symptoms of RA can help to prevent and treatment osteoporosis.

A total of 87 patients with primary Sjögren′s syndrome (pSS) admitted in Jiangyin Hospital affiliated to South-East University Medical College from August 2014 to September 2018 were enrolled. According to severity, the ultrasonographic images of salivary glands were analyzed and graded to 0-4 scores, it is defined as positive if the scores ≥ 2. The ultrasonographic positive rate of submandibular glands and parotid glands were 94.3% (164/174) and 71.3% (124/174), respectively (χ²=32.22, P<0.05). The median scores of submandibular glands and parotid glands were 3 and 2 (Z=9.70, P<0.05). No significant difference was found in the ultrasonographic scores between the right and left glands of the same salivary glands (P>0.05). The result indicates that the damage of submandibular glands is more severe than that of parotid glands in patients with pSS.