220 resultados para ARM Linux


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In this study we determine whether blood pressure readings using a cuff of fixed size systematically differed from readings made with a triple-bladder cuff (Tricuff) that automatically adjusts bladder width to arm circumference and assessed subsequent clinical and epidemiological effects. Blood pressure was measured with a standard cuff or a Tricuff in 454 patients visiting an outpatient clinic in the Seychelles (Indian Ocean). Overall means of within-individual standard cuff-Tricuff differences in systolic and diastolic blood pressures were examined in relation to arm circumference and sex. The standard cuff-Tricuff difference in systolic and diastolic blood pressures increased monotonically with circumference (from 4.7 +/- 0.8/3.2 +/- 0.7 mm Hg for arm circumference of 30 to 31 cm to 10.0 +/- 1.1/8.0 +/- 0.9 mm Hg for arm circumference > or = 36 cm) and was larger in women than men. Multivariate linear regression indicated independent effects of arm circumference and sex. Forty percent of subjects with a diastolic blood pressure of > or = 95 mm Hg measured with a standard cuff had values less than 95 mm Hg measured with a Tricuff. Extrapolation to the entire population of the Seychelles decreased the prevalence of blood pressure greater than or equal to 160/95 mm Hg by 11.5% and 24.0% in men and women, respectively, aged 35 to 64 years. The age-adjusted effect of body mass index on systolic and diastolic blood pressures decreased twofold using blood pressure readings made with a Tricuff instead of a standard cuff.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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IMPORTANCE: The clinical benefit of adding a macrolide to a β-lactam for empirical treatment of moderately severe community-acquired pneumonia remains controversial. OBJECTIVE: To test noninferiority of a β-lactam alone compared with a β-lactam and macrolide combination in moderately severe community-acquired pneumonia. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Open-label, multicenter, noninferiority, randomized trial conducted from January 13, 2009, through January 31, 2013, in 580 immunocompetent adult patients hospitalized in 6 acute care hospitals in Switzerland for moderately severe community-acquired pneumonia. Follow-up extended to 90 days. Outcome assessors were masked to treatment allocation. INTERVENTIONS: Patients were treated with a β-lactam and a macrolide (combination arm) or with a β-lactam alone (monotherapy arm). Legionella pneumophila infection was systematically searched and treated by addition of a macrolide to the monotherapy arm. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Proportion of patients not reaching clinical stability (heart rate <100/min, systolic blood pressure >90 mm Hg, temperature <38.0°C, respiratory rate <24/min, and oxygen saturation >90% on room air) at day 7. RESULTS: After 7 days of treatment, 120 of 291 patients (41.2%) in the monotherapy arm vs 97 of 289 (33.6%) in the combination arm had not reached clinical stability (7.6% difference, P = .07). The upper limit of the 1-sided 90% CI was 13.0%, exceeding the predefined noninferiority boundary of 8%. Patients infected with atypical pathogens (hazard ratio [HR], 0.33; 95% CI, 0.13-0.85) or with Pneumonia Severity Index (PSI) category IV pneumonia (HR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.59-1.10) were less likely to reach clinical stability with monotherapy, whereas patients not infected with atypical pathogens (HR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.80-1.22) or with PSI category I to III pneumonia (HR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.82-1.36) had equivalent outcomes in the 2 arms. There were more 30-day readmissions in the monotherapy arm (7.9% vs 3.1%, P = .01). Mortality, intensive care unit admission, complications, length of stay, and recurrence of pneumonia within 90 days did not differ between the 2 arms. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: We did not find noninferiority of β-lactam monotherapy in patients hospitalized for moderately severe community-acquired pneumonia. Patients infected with atypical pathogens or with PSI category IV pneumonia had delayed clinical stability with monotherapy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00818610.

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BACKGROUND: The study aimed to compare the cost-effectiveness of concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide (TMZ) for the treatment of newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme versus initial radiotherapy alone from a public health care perspective. METHODS: The economic evaluation was performed alongside a randomized, multicenter, phase 3 trial. The primary endpoint of the trial was overall survival. Costs included all direct medical costs. Economic data were collected prospectively for a subgroup of 219 patients (38%). Unit costs for drugs, procedures, laboratory and imaging, radiotherapy, and hospital costs per day were collected from the official national reimbursement lists based on 2004. For the cost-effectiveness analysis, survival was expressed as 2.5 years restricted mean estimates. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was constructed. Confidence intervals for the ICER were calculated using the Fieller method and bootstrapping. RESULTS: The difference in 2.5 years restricted mean survival between the treatment arms was 0.25 life-years and the ICER was euro37,361 per life-year gained with a 95% confidence interval (CI) ranging from euro19,544 to euro123,616. The area between the survival curves of the treatment arms suggests an increase of the overall survival gain for a longer follow-up. An extrapolation of the overall survival per treatment arm and imputation of costs for the extrapolated survival showed a substantial reduction in ICER. CONCLUSIONS: The ICER of euro37,361 per life-year gained is a conservative estimate. We concluded that despite the high TMZ acquisition costs, the costs per life-year gained are comparable to accepted first-line treatment with chemotherapy in patients with cancer.

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The therapeutic efficacy of BAL9141 (formerly Ro 63-9141), a novel cephalosporin with broad in vitro activity that also has activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), was investigated in rats with experimental endocarditis. The test organisms were homogeneously methicillin-resistant S. aureus strain COL transformed with the penicillinase-encoding plasmid pI524 (COL Bla+) and homogeneously methicillin-resistant, penicillinase-producing isolate P8-Hom, selected by serial exposure of parent strain P8 to methicillin. The MICs of BAL9141 for these organisms (2 mg/liter) were low, and BAL9141was bactericidal in time-kill curve studies after 24 h of exposure to either two, four, or eight times the MIC. Rats with experimental endocarditis were treated in a three-arm study with a continuous infusion of BAL5788 (formerly Ro 65-5788), a carbamate prodrug of BAL9141, or with amoxicillin-clavulanate or vancomycin. The rats were administered BAL9141 to obtain steady-state target levels of 20, 10, and 5 mg of per liter or were administered either 1.2 g of amoxicillin-clavulanate (ratio 5:1) every 6 h or 1 g of vancomycin every 12 h at changing flow rates to simulate the pharmacokinetics produced in humans by intermittent intravenous treatment. Treatment was started 12 h after bacterial challenge and lasted for 3 days. BAL9141 was successful in the treatment of experimental endocarditis due to either MRSA isolate COL Bla+ or MRSA isolate P8-Hom at the three targeted steady-state concentrations and sterilized &gt;90% of cardiac vegetations (P &lt; 0.005 versus controls; P &lt; 0.05 versus amoxicillin-clavulanate and vancomycin treatment groups). These promising in vivo results with BAL9141 correlated with the high affinity of the drug for PBP 2a and its stability to penicillinase hydrolysis observed in vitro.

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Introduction: In a prior study, we demonstrated that ACVBP + consolidation was superior to 3 cycles of CHOP + radiotherapy in young patients (pts) with localized aggressive lymphoma (Reyes F et al. N Engl J Med 2005;352:1197). This randomized trial compared in these pts ACVBP vs. ACVBP + a short course of rituximab (R-ACVBP).Methods: untreated pts between 18 and 65y with stage I/II DLBCL and no adverse prognostic factors according to the aa-IPI were eligible. ACVBP consisted of 3 induction cycles given every 2 weeks: doxorubicin (75 mg/m2) day 1, cyclophosphamide (1.2g/m2) day 1, vindesine (2 mg/m2) day 1 and 5, bleomycin (10 mg) day 1 and 5, prednisone (60 mg/m2) day 1 to 5 followed by consolidation with metothrexate, ifosfamide, VP-16 and cytarabine. R-ACVBP consisted of the same regimen combined with 4 doses of rituximab (375 mg/m2) on day 1, 15, 29 and 43. Primary objective was EFS.Results: From 01/04 to 03/08, 223 pts were randomized, 113 in ACVBP and 110 in R-ACVBP arm. Characteristics were: median age 49y (18-65), stage I 63%, extranodal involvement 45%, bulky disease 4%. CR was 94% in ACVBP and 97% in ACVBP arm (ns). With a median follow-up of 43 months, the 3-y EFS was 82% (95% CI, 73% to 88%) in ACVBP and 93% (95% CI, 87% to 97%) in R-ACVBP group (P=0.0487). The 3-y PFS was 83% (95% CI, 74% to 89%) and 95% (95% CI, 89% to 98%) respectively (P=0.0205). OS did not significantly differ with a 3-y estimates of 97% (95% CI, 90% to 99%) for ACVBP and 98% (95% CI, 92% to 100%) for R-ACVBP (P=0.686). In multivariate analysis, a longer PFS was associated with R-ACVBP arm (P=0.0302) and lower b2-m level (P=0.0164). The same proportion of pts (27%) experienced at least 1 SAE in both groups. There were 4 deaths in each arm, with 1 treatment-related death in R-ACVBP (pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia).Conclusion: the addition of only 4 doses of rituximab to ACVBP significantly improves EFS and PFS in younger pts with low-risk localized DLBCL.

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Anorectal malformations (ARMs) are a complex group of congenital anomalies involving the distal anus and rectum, as well as the urinary and genital tracts in a significant number of cases. Most ARMs result from abnormal development of the urorectal septum in early fetal life. In most cases, the anus is not perforated and the distal enteric component ends blindly (atresia) or as a fistula into the urinary tract, genital tract, or perineum. ARMs are also present in a great number of syndromes and associations of congenital anomalies. The classification of ARMs is mainly based on the position of the rectal pouch relative to the puborectal sling, the presence or absence of fistulas, and the types and locations of the fistulas. All of this information is crucial in determining the most appropriate surgical approach for each case. Imaging studies play a key role in evaluation and classification of ARMs. In neonates, clinical and radiologic examinations in the first 3 days of life help determine the type of ARM and the need for early colostomy. In older children, preoperative pelvic magnetic resonance imaging is the most efficient diagnostic method for evaluating the size, morphology, and grade of development of the sphincteric musculature.

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BACKGROUND: Closures of atrial septal defects or a patent foramen ovale (PFO) are increasingly performed percutaneously. The experience of late migration of a new bio-absorbable device is presented here, followed by conceptual discussion. METHODS: Six months post PFO closure with a BioSTAR® device a patient presented with chest pain. Echocardiography showed a hyperechogenic structure perforating the aortic wall. RESULTS: Surgical exploration showed a perforation of the ascending aorta by one metallic, non absorbable arm. This is the second case of late (>6 months) dislocation of the residual framework of the occluder. CONCLUSIONS: The overall incidence of perforation of cardiac structures due to secondary dislocation is low. However this complication exists and should kept in mind in symptomatic patients with new onset of chest pain, after percutaneous procedures. The concept of biodegradation, with residual, non absorbable metal braiding, should be reviewed, analyzing in particular long term results and incidence of secondary dislocation.

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Pharmacological treatment of hypertension represents a cost-effective way of preventing cardiovascular and renal complications. To benefit maximally from antihypertensive treatment, blood pressure should be brought to below 140/90 mmHg in every hypertensive patient, and even lower (< 130/80 mmHg) if diabetes or renal disease co-exists. Such targets cannot usually be reached using monotherapies. This is especially true in patients who present with a high cardiovascular risk. The co-administration of two agents acting by different mechanisms considerably increases the blood pressure control rate. Such combinations are not only efficacious, but are also well tolerated, and some fixed low-dose combinations even have a placebo-like tolerability. This is the case for the preparation containing the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor perindopril (2 mg) and the diuretic indapamide (0.625 mg), a fixed low-dose combination that has been shown in controlled trials to be more effective than monotherapies in reducing albuminuria, regressing cardiac hypertrophy and improving the stiffness of large arteries. Using this combination to initiate antihypertensive therapy has been shown in a double-blind trial (Strategies of Treatment in Hypertension: Evaluation; STRATHE) to normalize blood pressure (< 140/90 mmHg) in significantly more patients (62%) than a sequential monotherapy approach based on atenolol, losartan and amlodipine (49%) and a stepped-care strategy based on valsartan and hydrochlorothiazide (47%), with no difference between the three arm groups in terms of tolerability. An ongoing randomized trial (Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease: Preterax and Diamicron Modified Release Controlled Evaluation; ADVANCE) is a study with a 2 x 2 factorial design assessing the effects of the fixed-dose perindopril-indapamide combination and of the intensive gliclazide modified release-based glucose control regimen in type 2 diabetic patients, with or without hypertension. A total of 11 140 patients were randomly selected. Within the first 6 weeks of treatment (run-in phase), the perindopril-indapamide combination lowered blood pressure from 145/81 +/- 22/11 mmHg (mean +/- SD) to 137/78 +/- 20/10 mmHg. Fixed-dose combinations are becoming more and more popular for the management of hypertension, and are even proposed by hypertension guidelines as a first-line option to treat hypertensive patients.

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Childhood obesity and physical inactivity are increasing dramatically worldwide. Children of low socioeconomic status and/or children of migrant background are especially at risk. In general, the overall effectiveness of school-based programs on health-related outcomes has been disappointing. A special gap exists for younger children and in high risk groups. This paper describes the rationale, design, curriculum, and evaluation of a multicenter preschool randomized intervention study conducted in areas with a high migrant population in two out of 26 Swiss cantons. Twenty preschool classes in the German (canton St. Gallen) and another 20 in the French (canton Vaud) part of Switzerland were separately selected and randomized to an intervention and a control arm by the use of opaque envelopes. The multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention aimed to increase physical activity and sleep duration, to reinforce healthy nutrition and eating behaviour, and to reduce media use. According to the ecological model, it included children, their parents and the teachers. The regular teachers performed the majority of the intervention and were supported by a local health promoter. The intervention included physical activity lessons, adaptation of the built infrastructure; promotion of regional extracurricular physical activity; playful lessons about nutrition, media use and sleep, funny homework cards and information materials for teachers and parents. It lasted one school year. Baseline and post-intervention evaluations were performed in both arms. Primary outcome measures included BMI and aerobic fitness (20 m shuttle run test). Secondary outcomes included total (skinfolds, bioelectrical impedance) and central (waist circumference) body fat, motor abilities (obstacle course, static and dynamic balance), physical activity and sleep duration (accelerometry and questionnaires), nutritional behaviour and food intake, media use, quality of life and signs of hyperactivity (questionnaires), attention and spatial working memory ability (two validated tests). Researchers were blinded to group allocation. The purpose of this paper is to outline the design of a school-based multicenter cluster randomized, controlled trial aiming to reduce body mass index and to increase aerobic fitness in preschool children in culturally different parts of Switzerland with a high migrant population. Trial Registration: (clinicaltrials.gov) NCT00674544.

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Multisensory stimuli can improve performance, facilitating RTs on sensorimotor tasks. This benefit is referred to as the redundant signals effect (RSE) and can exceed predictions on the basis of probability summation, indicative of integrative processes. Although an RSE exceeding probability summation has been repeatedly observed in humans and nonprimate animals, there are scant and inconsistent data from nonhuman primates performing similar protocols. Rather, existing paradigms have instead focused on saccadic eye movements. Moreover, the extant results in monkeys leave unresolved how stimulus synchronicity and intensity impact performance. Two trained monkeys performed a simple detection task involving arm movements to auditory, visual, or synchronous auditory-visual multisensory pairs. RSEs in excess of predictions on the basis of probability summation were observed and thus forcibly follow from neural response interactions. Parametric variation of auditory stimulus intensity revealed that in both animals, RT facilitation was limited to situations where the auditory stimulus intensity was below or up to 20 dB above perceptual threshold, despite the visual stimulus always being suprathreshold. No RT facilitation or even behavioral costs were obtained with auditory intensities 30-40 dB above threshold. The present study demonstrates the feasibility and the suitability of behaving monkeys for investigating links between psychophysical and neurophysiologic instantiations of multisensory interactions.

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The present work assessed the effects of intracerebroventricular injections of rh recombined human nerve growth factor (rh NGF) (5 micrograms/2.5 microl) at postnatal days 12 and 13 upon the development of spatial learning capacities. The treated rats were trained at the age of 22 days to escape onto an invisible platform at a fixed position in space in a Morris navigation task. For half of the subjects, the training position was also cued, a procedure aimed at facilitating escape and at reducing attention to the distant spatial cues. Later, at the age of 6 months, all the rats were trained in a radial-arm maze task. Treatment effects were found in both immature and adult rats. The injection of NGF improved the performance in the Morris navigation task in both training conditions. There was a significant reduction in the escape latency and an increased bias toward the training platform quadrant during probe trials. The most consistent effect was the precocious development of an adult-like spatial memory. In the radial-arm maze, the NGF-treated rats made significantly fewer reentries than vehicle rats and this effect was particularly marked in the treated female rats. Taken together, these experiments reveal that the development and the maintenance of an accurate spatial representation are tightly related to the development of brain structures facilitated by the action of NGF. Moreover, these experiments demonstrate that an acute pharmacological treatment that leads to a transient modification in the choline acetyltransferase activity can induce a behavioral change long after the treatment.

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Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a degenerative disease of the retina leading to progressive loss of vision and, in many instances, to legal blindness at the end stage. The RP28 locus was assigned in 1999 to the short arm of chromosome 2 by homozygosity mapping in a large Indian family segregating autosomal-recessive RP (arRP). Following a combined approach of chromatin immunoprecipitation and parallel sequencing of genomic DNA, we identified a gene, FAM161A, which was shown to carry a homozygous nonsense mutation (p.Arg229X) in patients from the original RP28 pedigree. Another homozygous FAM161A stop mutation (p.Arg437X) was detected in three subjects from a cohort of 118 apparently unrelated German RP patients. Age at disease onset in these patients was in the second to third decade, with severe visual handicap in the fifth decade and legal blindness in the sixth to seventh decades. FAM161A is a phylogenetically conserved gene, expressed in the retina at relatively high levels and encoding a putative 76 kDa protein of unknown function. In the mouse retina, Fam161a mRNA is developmentally regulated and controlled by the transcription factor Crx, as demonstrated by chromatin immunoprecipitation and organotypic reporter assays on explanted retinas. Fam161a protein localizes to photoreceptor cells during development, and in adult animals it is present in the inner segment as well as the outer plexiform layer of the retina, the synaptic interface between photoreceptors and their efferent neurons. Taken together, our data indicate that null mutations in FAM161A are responsible for the RP28-associated arRP.

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We performed a systematic review of the literature to establish whether revascularisation of the left subclavian territory is necessary when this artery is covered by a stent. We retrieved data from 99 studies incorporating 4906 patients. Incidences of left-arm ischaemia (0.0% vs 9.2%, p=0.002) and stroke (4.7% vs 7.2%, p<0.001) were significantly less following revascularisation, although mortality (10.5% vs 3.4%, p=0.032) and endoleak incidence (25.8% vs 12.6%, p=0.008) were increased. No significant differences in spinal-cord ischaemia were seen. Revascularisation may reduce downstream ischaemic complications but can cause significant risk. Indications must be carefully considered on an individual patient basis.

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BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Studies involving factor analysis (FA) of the items in the North American Spine Society (NASS) outcome assessment instrument have revealed inconsistent factor structures for the individual items. PURPOSE: This study examined whether the factor structure of the NASS varied in relation to the severity of the back/neck problem and differed from that originally recommended by the developers of the questionnaire, by analyzing data before and after surgery in a large series of patients undergoing lumbar or cervical disc arthroplasty. STUDY DESIGN/SETTING: Prospective multicenter observational case series. PATIENT SAMPLE: Three hundred ninety-one patients with low back pain and 553 patients with neck pain completed questionnaires preoperatively and again at 3 to 6 and 12 months follow-ups (FUs), in connection with the SWISSspine disc arthroplasty registry. OUTCOME MEASURES: North American Spine Society outcome assessment instrument. METHODS: First, an exploratory FA without a priori assumptions and subsequently a confirmatory FA were performed on the 17 items of the NASS-lumbar and 19 items of the NASS-cervical collected at each assessment time point. The item-loading invariance was tested in the German version of the questionnaire for baseline and FU. RESULTS: Both NASS-lumbar and NASS-cervical factor structures differed between baseline and postoperative data sets. The confirmatory analysis and item-loading invariance showed better fit for a three-factor (3F) structure for NASS-lumbar, containing items on "disability," "back pain," and "radiating pain, numbness, and weakness (leg/foot)" and for a 5F structure for NASS-cervical including disability, "neck pain," "radiating pain and numbness (arm/hand)," "weakness (arm/hand)," and "motor deficit (legs)." CONCLUSIONS: The best-fitting factor structure at both baseline and FU was selected for both the lumbar- and cervical-NASS questionnaires. It differed from that proposed by the originators of the NASS instruments. Although the NASS questionnaire represents a valid outcome measure for degenerative spine diseases, it is able to distinguish among all major symptom domains (factors) in patients undergoing lumbar and cervical disc arthroplasty; overall, the item structure could be improved. Any potential revision of the NASS should consider its factorial structure; factorial invariance over time should be aimed for, to allow for more precise interpretations of treatment success.

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Aims: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) appearing during childhood and adolescence compromise peak bone mass acquisition and increase fracture risk. The structural determinants of bone fragility in IBD however remain unknown. Methods: We investigated volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD), trabecular and cortical bone microstructure at distal radius and tibia by high-resolution pQCT (XtremeCT, Scanco, Switzerland), aBMD at distal radius, hip and spine and vertebral fracture assessment (VFA) by DXA in 107 young patients (mean age 22.8 yrs, range 12.2-33.7 yrs; 62 females and 45 males) with Crohn's disease (n=75), ulcerative colitis (n=25), undetermined colitis (n=2), and no definitive diagnosis (n=5), and in 389 healthy young individuals. Results: Mean disease duration was 6.1 yrs, 89/107 IBD patients received corticosteroids, 83 other immunomodulators, and 59 vitamin D. Clinical fractures were reported by 38 patients (mean age at 1st fracture, 12.6 yrs), the vast majority of the forearm, arm or hand; 5 had vertebral crush fractures (Grade 1 or 2) and 11 had multiple fractures. As compared to healthy controls (matched 2:1 for age, sex, height and fracture history), the 102 patients with established IBD had similar weight but significantly lower aBMD at all sites, lower trabecular (Tb) BV/TV and number, and greater Tb separation and inhomogeneous Tb distribution (1/SD TbN) at both distal radius and tibia, lower tibia cortical thickness (CTh), but no differences in cortical vBMD nor bone perimeter. Among IBD's, aBMD was not associated with fractures (by logistic regression adjusted for age, age square, sex, height, weight and protein intake). However, radius and tibia Tb BV/TV, thickness and SD 1/TbN, as well as radius Tb separation and perimeter, were significantly associated with fracture risk (fully adjusted as above), whereas cortical vBMD and CTh were not. After adjustment for aBMD at radius, respectively at femur neck, radius SD 1/TbN and tibia BV/TV, TbTh and perimeter remained independently associated with fracture risk. Conclusions: Young subjects with IBD have low bone mass and poor bone microarchitecture compared to healthy controls. Alterations of bone microarchitecture, particularly in the trabecular bone compartment, are specifically associated with increased fracture risk during growth.