Abstract:

Objective To investigate the correlations of serum hepcidin levels with bone metabolism indices and bone mineral density（BMD） in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Methods A total of 106 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and 92 postmenopausal women without osteoporosis were enrolled. According to BMD,they were classified into osteoporosis group（106 cases）,bone mass reduction group（57 cases） and bone mass normal group（35 cases）. Their clinical data were collected. BMD was determined. Serum levels of hepcidin and bone metabolism indices [procollagen Ⅰ N-terminal peptide（PⅠNP）,osteopontin（OPN）,beta degradation product of carboxylterminal telopeptide of type Ⅰ collagen（β-CTX） and N-terminal osteocalcin（OC）] were determined. Receiver operating characteristic（ROC） curve was used to analyze the role of serum hepcidin in the diagnosis of osteoporosis. Pearson correlation analysis and partial correlation analysis were used to evaluate the correlations. Results Serum levels of hepcidin,lumbar BMD and femoral neck BMD in osteoporosis group were lower than those in bone mass reduction group and bone mass normal group（P<0.05）,and those in bone mass reduction group were lower than those in bone mass normal group（P<0.05）. Serum levels of PⅠNP,OPN,β-CTX and OC in osteoporosis group were higher than those in bone mass reduction group and bone mass normal group（P<0.05）,and serum levels of PⅠNP,OPN and β-CTX in bone mass reduction group were higher than those in bone mass normal group（P<0.05）. ROC curve analysis showed that the area under curve（AUC） of serum hepcidin in the diagnosis of osteoporosis for postmenopausal women was 0.780,the optimal cut-off value was 35.0 μg/L,the sensitivity was 91.5%,and the specificity was 57.6%. Pearson correlation analysis showed that serum level of hepcidin was negatively correlated with age,PⅠNP,OPN,β-CTX and OC（P<0.05）,while it was positively correlated with weight,lumbar BMD and femoral neck BMD（P<0.05）. Partial correlation analysis showed that whether age was corrected,or age and weight were corrected,serum level of hepcidin was negatively correlated with PⅠNP and OPN（P<0.05）,while it was positively correlated with lumbar BMD and femoral neck BMD（P<0.05）. Conclusions Serum level of hepcidin in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis is decreased,and it is related with age,bone metabolism indices and BMD.

Key words: Hepcidin, Bone mineral density, Bone metabolism, Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal women