Prediction of fracture risk in postmenopausal type 2 diabetes mellitus with osteopenia by serum OPG, TGF-β and IL-6 levels

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the variations of serum OPG, TGF-β and IL-6 levels with bone loss in postmenopausal women with or without type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), to elucidate the role of serum OPG, TGF-β and IL-6 levels in prediction for 10-year probability of fracture risk, and to explore the impact of serum OPG, TGF-β and IL-6 levels on the progression of type 2 diabetic fracture. Methods This study included 128 postmenopausal women who were diagnosed as osteopenia (areal bone mineral density at spine and hip of all subjects were measured by DXA, patients with T score more than -2.5 and less than -1.0 were diagnosed as osteopenea). They were divided into two groups, T2DM group and non-T2DM group. Besides of BMD, all subjects were measured the serum levels of OPG, TGF-β and IL-6. Furthermore, we predicted the 10-year probability of fracture risk in all cohorts by FRAX® and analyzed the correlations of the risk with serum levels of OPG, TGF-β and IL-6 in all subjects. Results There were no significant differences of BMD between the two groups (Z=0.841, P>0.05). However, the serum levels of OPG (Z=2.264, P=0.024), TGF-β (Z=2.836, P=0.005) and IL-6 (Z=2.431, P=0.015) in T2DM group were higher than that in non-T2DM group. Furthermore, the serum levels of OPG, TGF-β and IL-6 were correlated with the 10-year probability of fracture risk in T2DM group. Conclusion The serum levels of OPG, TGF-β and IL-6 increased in osteopenia patients with T2DM, suggesting that the increased inflammatory factors could be used as predictors for the 10-year probability of fracture risk in osteopenia patients with T2DM. Key words: Diabetes mellitus, Type 2; Osteoporosis; Serum response factor; Fracture risk