Abstract:Objective To investigate the curative efficacy of thioctic acid in treating type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients complicated with osteoporosis and its effect on bone metabolism. Methods Totally 160 T2DM patients complicated with osteoporosis who received therapy in our hospital from January to December 2015 were selected as research objects. According to random number table method, the patients were randomly divided into two groups with equal number. The control group was given conventional treatment. Besides that, the observation group was given adjuvant therapy of thioctic acid. After 3 months, curative effect on osteoporosis, bone mineral density (BMD) and level of bone metabolism were compared between the two groups. Results The total effective rate of treating osteoporosis in the observation group was statistically higher than that in the control group (91.2% vs. 80.0%, P < 0.05). After the treatment, in comparison with the control group, the observation group had statistically higher BMD levels of lumbar vertebrae and collum femoris (P < 0.05). As to bone metabolism, the observation group had statistically higher levels of bone alkaline phosphatase (BALP), fasting bone gla protein (BGP) and statistically lower level of human cross-linked carboxy-terminal telopetide of collagen (CTX) than the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusions Adjuvant therapy of thioctic acid is effective in treating T2DM patients complicated with osteoporosis with a high therapeutic effective rate. And it can significantly improve the clinic symptoms, increase BMD and improve bone metabolism.