Effect of Diabetes Mellitus and Anti-Diabetic Drugs on Bone Health-A Review

Osteoporosis and diabetes mellitus (DM) are widespread diseases and have a significant health burden. Type-1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are associated with an increased bone fracture. In T1DM, the increased risk of bone fracture is associated with low bone mass. In patients with T2DM, the risk of fracture of the bone is increased due to low quality of bone, despite increased bone mineral density (BMD). In type 2 diabetic patients, bone fragility depends on the quality of bone instead of a reduction in bone mass. Thiazolidinediones (TZD) cause differentiation of adipocytes and inhibit differentiation of osteoblast and bone marrow stromal stem cells (BMSC). In this review, we have described the effect of anti-diabetic drugs and diabetes mellitus on bone health and our finding shows that sulfonylureas and metformin have no negative effect on bone health and protect bones against fractures.