Abstract: ObjectiveTo investigate the morbidity and risk factors of osteoporosis in patients after liver transplantation (LT), and to evaluate the diagnose efficiency of osteoporosis self-assessment tool for Asians (OSTA) for osteoporosis in patients after LT. Methods The bone mineral density (BMD) of 126 patients who underwent LT in our center was detected. The risk factors of osteoporosis in patients after LT were analyzed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression. The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of OSTA in screening osteoporosis. Results The morbidity of osteoporosis was 13.5% (17/126) in patients after LT and 3.2% (4/126) in healthy controls (χ²=8.779, P=0.003). Multivariate logistic regression showed that age, body weight and period of postoperative were the independent risk factors of osteoporosis after LT (OR=1.272, 0.868, 0.170, PCI: 0.796-0.963, P<0.001). Conclusion The prevalence of osteoporosis in LT patients was higher than that of the general population. The elderly patients with low body weight and short period post LT would have higher risk of osteoporosis after LT. OSTA could be used for osteoporosis screening in patients after LT.

Key words: Liver transplantation, Osteoporosis, Bone mineral density, Risk factor, Self-assessment tool