NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Levels of two bone markers currently recommended for evaluating postmenopausal women with osteoporosis have no association with hip fracture risk, according to a new study using Women’s Health Initiative data.
“At least in these postmenopausal women, it was not a useful endeavor to check bone turnover markers to predict hip-fracture risk. That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t apply to men or people who were taking therapy for osteoporosis,” Dr. Carolyn J. Crandall, a professor at David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, tells Reuters Health by phone.
The International Osteoporosis Foundation/International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IOF/IFCC) Bone Markers Working Group stated in 2011 that C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX) and procollagen type 1 aminoterminal propeptide (PINP) were the “most promising markers” of bone turnover, Dr. Crandall and her team note in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, online June 19.1 The IOF/IFCC recommends that serum CTX, a bone resorption marker, and serum PINP, a bone formation marker, be measured by standardized assays and used as reference markers in research.
Studies to date looking at bone turnover markers have focused on fragility or osteoporotic fractures in general, and no studies focusing on hip fracture have required that samples be taken in a fasting state, the authors note. “Because hip fractures are a substantial cause of increased morbidity and mortality, it is of clinical importance to elucidate the ability of serum bone turnover markers to predict hip fracture risk,” they add.