Wei‑Chen Lina, Ming‑Che Leeb,c, Yen‑Cheng Chend,e*, Bang‑Gee Hsua,e*
aDivision of Nephrology, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan, bDivision of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, cDepartment of Surgery, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, dDepartment of Surgery, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan, eSchool of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan
Open Access funded by Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation
Abstract
Objectives: Osteocalcin, a protein from osteoblasts, affects bone mineralization and turnover. This study evaluates the association between fasting serum osteocalcin and bone mineral density (BMD) in renal transplant recipients. Materials and Methods: This study recruited 66 renal transplant recipients. We analyzed blood biochemistry studies from fasting blood samples. The serum osteocalcin levels were measured using a commercial enzyme immunoassay kit. We measure BMD by dual‑energy X‑ray absorptiometry in lumbar vertebrae (L2–L4). By the World Health Organization classification, we group recipients into three groups: normal, osteopenia, and osteoporosis. Results: Of the renal transplant recipients, 8 patients (12.1%) were osteoporosis, and 28 patients (42.4%) were osteopenia. From normal to osteoporosis groups, the osteoporosis group has highest serum osteocalcin (P < 0.001), alkaline phosphatase (P = 0.005), lowest body mass index (P = 0.015), and body weight (P = 0.008). Females had lower lumbar BMD than males among recruited renal transplant recipients (P = 0.023). In the multivariate forward stepwise linear regression analysis, body weight (adjusted R2 change = 0.138; P = 0.010), and logarithmically transformed osteocalcin (log‑osteocalcin; adjusted R2 change = 0.131; P = 0.012) can predict lumbar BMD in the renal transplant recipients. Conclusion: Our study showed that fasting serum osteocalcin concentration was negatively correlated with the lumbar BMD in renal transplant recipients.
Keywords: Bone mineral density, Dual‑energy X‑ray absorptiometry, Kidney transplantation, Osteocalcin, Osteoporosis
