Association of Serum Osteocalcin with Metabolic Syndrome in Korean Adult Women

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Serum osteocalcin level has been widely used as a bone turnover marker in clinical setting. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between serum osteocalcin concentration and metabolic syndrome as a cardiovascular risk factor in adult women. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 89 adult women (29 premenopausal, 60 postmenopausal) who voluntarily measured serum osteocalcin concentration and lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) for the purpose of screening. The definition of metabolic syndrome was used National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel III criteria except waist circumference which was adopted the Korean standard. RESULTS: The serum osteocalcin concentration with metabolic syndrome was significantly lower than those without metabolic syndrome (15.4±8.0 ng/mL vs. 22.4±12.2 ng/mL; P=0.001). The osteocalcin level was significantly lower in the groups with more than 4 risk factors for metabolic syndrome (10.1±6.7 ng/mL) than the groups with more than 3 (18.0±7.6 ng/mL) or 2 (23.6±7.1 ng/mL) risk factors. As a result of logistic regression analysis using serum osteocalcin, age, menopausal status, lumbar spine BMD and body mass index as independent variables, the presence of metabolic syndrome was independently associated with the serum osteocalcin level (β=-0.151, P=0.018). CONCLUSIONS: The serum osteocalcin levels in adult women were significantly lower in the metabolic syndrome group, and also lower in the group with higher clustering of individual risk factors of metabolic syndrome.