title: High serum total homocysteine levels accelerate hip bone loss in healthy premenopausal women and men.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite extensive evidence demonstrating the direct, detrimental role of homocysteine on bone metabolism, the effects of serum total homocysteine (tHcy) on bone loss are still equivocal. In the present study, we performed a longitudinal study on healthy participants of various ages of both sexes in order to investigate the association between serum tHcy concentrations and annualized changes in bone mineral density (BMD).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 460 Koreans ≥ 30 years of age received comprehensive, routine health examinations for an average period of 3 years. The BMD at proximal femur sites was measured with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry using the same equipment at baseline and follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After adjusting for potential confounders, the rates of bone loss at the proximal femur sites were significantly accelerated in a dose-response fashion across increasing tHcy concentrations in premenopausal women and men, but not in postmenopausal women. Consistently, compared with subjects in the lowest tHcy quartile, premenopausal women in the third and/or highest tHcy quartile and men in the highest tHcy quartile showed significantly higher rates of bone loss at all proximal femur sites (p=0.015-0.048) and at the total femur and femur neck (p=0.008-0.013), respectively. In contrast, there were no differences in terms of bone loss among the tHcy quartiles for postmenopausal women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data provide the first clinical evidence that increased tHcy levels could be an independent risk factor for the future deterioration of bone mass in premenopausal women and men.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 138-736, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Beom-Jun
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jung-Min
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Seong Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Seung Hun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Eun Hee
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sung Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Hong-Kyu
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jae Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Choe
authors.forename: Keong-Hye
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Kyung Ha
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Pyun
authors.forename: Tae-Ho
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Shin-Yoon
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ghi Su
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015519:Bone Density; D005260:Female; D006615:Hip / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000097:blood*; D017697:Premenopause; D012016:Reference Values; D056910:Republic of Korea
chemical_list: D006710:Homocysteine