Associations of serum osteoprotegerin levels with diabetes, stroke, bone density, fractures, and mortality in elderly women

• Published in: The journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism 2001-02, Vol.86 (2), p.631-637
• Main Authors: BROWNER, Warren S, LUI, Li-Yung, CUMMINGS, Steven R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Analysis. Health state; Biological and medical sciences; Biomarkers - blood; Blood Pressure; Bone Density; Cardiovascular Diseases - epidemiology; Cause of Death; Cohort Studies; Confidence Intervals; Diabetes Mellitus - blood; Diabetes Mellitus - epidemiology; Epidemiology; Estrogen Replacement Therapy; European Continental Ancestry Group; Female; Fractures, Bone - blood; Fractures, Bone - epidemiology; General aspects; Glycoproteins - blood; Humans; Medical sciences; Mortality; Observer Variation; Odds Ratio; Osteoprotegerin; Prospective Studies; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear - blood; Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor - blood; Risk Factors; San Francisco; Smoking; Stroke - blood; Stroke - epidemiology
• ISSN: 0021-972X; 1945-7197
• DOI: 10.1210/jc.86.2.631

Osteoprotegerin (OPG) and its ligand are cytokines that regulate osteoclastogenesis and that may be involved in the regulation of vascular calcification. We examined whether serum OPG levels were associated with stroke, mortality, and cardiovascular risk factors, including diabetes, as well as with bone mineral density and fractures in a sample of 490 participants in a prospective cohort of white women, at least 65 yr of age. We found that OPG levels, assayed blinded from serum obtained at baseline, were about 30% greater in women with diabetes (mean +/- SD, 0.30 +/- 0.17 ng/mL) than in those without diabetes (0.23 +/- 0.10 ng/mL; P = 0.0001). OPG levels were associated with all-cause mortality [age-adjusted odds ratio, 1.4/SD (0.11 ng/mL) increase in serum OPG level; 95% confidence interval, 1.2--1.8] and cardiovascular mortality (odds ratio, 1.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.1--1.8); these effects were not confounded by diabetes. OPG levels were not associated with baseline bone mineral density or with subsequent strokes or fractures. The association of serum OPG levels with diabetes and with cardiovascular mortality raises the possibility that OPG may be a cause of or a marker for vascular calcification.