Fig. 3

Shows the changes of thoracolumbar vertebral BMD, whole hip BMD and femoral neck BMD in patients with MHD over hemodialysis duration. As shown in (A), BMD of thoracolumbar vertebrae showed a gradual upward trend after 36–48 months of dialysis. After 60 months of hemodialysis duration, BMD of thoracolumbar vertebrae increased significantly with hemodialysis duration and was significantly higher than the initial stage of dialysis. (B,C) showed that BMD of the whole hip and femoral neck gradually decreased within 36 months of dialysis, and increased with hemodialysis duration after 72 months of hemodialysis duration, but was almost the same as that in the first year of dialysis.