Parathyroid Hormone and Bone Mineral Density

Zihao Qu, Fangkun Yang, Jianqiao Hong, Wei Wang, Shigui Yan
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 105, Issue 11, November 2020, Pages e4038–e4045
https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgaa579

Abstract

Purpose

Accumulating evidence implicates parathyroid hormone (PTH) in the development of osteoporosis. However, the causal effect of PTH on bone mineral density (BMD) remains unclear. Thus, this study is aimed at exploring the association between the concentrations of serum PTH and BMD.

Methods

The instrumental variables for PTH were selected from a large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS; n = 29 155). Outcomes included BMD of the forearm (FA; n = 8143), femoral neck (FN; n = 33 297), lumbar spine (LS; n = 32 735), heel (HL; n = 394 929), and risk of fractures in these bones (n = 361 194). Furthermore, the BMD of 5 different age groups: 15 years or younger (n = 11 807), 15–30 (n = 4180), 30–45 (n = 10 062), 45–60 (n = 18 805), and 60 years or older (n = 22 504) were extracted from a GWAS meta-analysis study. The analyses were performed using the 2-sample Mendelian randomization method.

Results

Mendelian randomization analysis revealed that the level of serum PTH was inversely associated with BMD of FA (95% CI: −0.763 to −0.016), FN (95% CI: −0.669 to −0.304), and LS (95% CI: −0.667 to −0.243). A causal relationship between serum PTH levels and BMD was observed in individuals aged 30–45 (95% CI: −0.888 to −0.166), 45–60 (95% CI: −0.758 to −0.232), and over 60 years (95% CI: −0.649 to −0.163).

Main Conclusions

This study demonstrated that the concentrations of serum PTH is inversely associated with BMD of several bones. Further analysis revealed site- and age-specific correlations between serum PTH levels and BMD, which implies that the levels of serum PTH contribute to the development of osteoporosis.

You may also like...