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Objectives: We have previously shown that MS patients have significantly reduced bone mass and a high prevalence of abnormal vitamin D status. The object of this study was to characterize the frequency of adulthood fractures in MS patients, prospectively determine rates of bone loss in MS, and determine whether vitamin D status is a predictor of bone loss.

Methods: MS patients (36 women, 18 men) were compared with age- and gender-matched healthy controls (35 women, 14 men). Bone mass was performed by dual x-ray absorptiometry at baseline and at 12-month intervals over 2 years.

Results: Fractures in the absence of major trauma had occurred in 2% of controls and 22% of MS patients (p < 0.002). Over the 2 years of prospective follow-up, both women and men with MS lost substantially more bone in the femoral neck than did controls (3% and 6% per year in pre- and postmenopausal women …