The Association of Serum Osteocalcin with the Bone Mineral Density in Post Menopausal Women

BACKGROUND: The markers of bone remodelling, such as serum osteocalcin, may be used to assess osteoporosis and to predict the fracture risk in elderly persons, especially in women. The bone mineral density which reflects the bone mass and strength, also predicts osteoporotic related hip fractures. So, this work highlights the association between the bone turnover and the bone mass and strength. AIM: To assess the association between the biochemical markers of bone remodeling and osteocalcin with the bone mineral density in non osteoporotic and osteoporotic women among post menopausal subjects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty postmenopausal women whose ages ranged from 55-65 years included in this study, were further divided into group 1 (thirty non osteoporotic subjects) and group 2 (thirty osteoporotic subjects). For all the subjects, serum osteocalcin was measured by ELISA. BMD was measured by the Dual Energy X- Ray Absorptiometry (DXA) scan. The women with osteoporosis were diagnosed, based on the T- score of the bone mineral density, by the DXA scan. The Student's "t" test was performed between the variables of both the groups and a correlation test was also performed between osteocalcin and BMD by using SPSS. RESULTS: A negative correlation was found between the osteocalcin level and the bone mineral density in post menopausal women. The mean values of both serum osteocalcin and BMD between the osteoporotic and the non osteoporotic subjects were statistically significant. CONCLUSION: An increased bone turnover coincides with the trabecular deterioration in osteoporotic women of the post menopausal age group. A combination of biochemical markers and BMD may be a better predictor of the fracture risk than when it was assessed by either alone. The biochemical markers of the bone turnover cannot be a substitute for the serial BMD measurement, but they may be useful when they are considered in conjunction with the BMD measurement.