title: Serum osteocalcin levels are useful as a predictor of cardiovascular events in maintenance hemodialysis patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Osteocalcin (OC) is a known bone metabolic marker and a regulator of glucose and fat metabolisms. Although bone and energy metabolisms are known risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in hemodialysis (HD) patients, few studies have examined the correlation between OC and CVD. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of serum OC levels on the emergence of new CVD events in HD patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We designed a longitudinal, observational cohort study in which the study patients were divided into low- and high-serum OC groups based on a median serum OC level of 71.5 ng/ml.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cardiovascular disease events were observed in 29 of 126 patients (23.0 %). The number of cumulative CVD events in the low-serum OC group was significantly higher than that in the high-serum OC group, as evaluated by the Kaplan-Meier method (p = 0.0021, log-rank test). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis demonstrated that a low level of serum OC is a significant predictor of a higher incidence of CVD events [hazard ratio, 2.925; 95 % confidence interval, 1.048-9.066; p = 0.0401] after adjustment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum OC level is a significant, independent prognostic factor for CVD events in maintenance HD patients. OC may be useful in predicting new CVD events in HD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of 4th Medicine, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawadacho, Shinjukuku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuri
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okano
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsuruta
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akiba
authors.forename: Kosaku
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nitta
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015675:Osteocalcin / Q000097:blood*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D051436:Renal Insufficiency, Chronic / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D015675:Osteocalcin