Influence of bone mineral density in circulating adipokines among postmenopausal Arab women

Osteoporosis and osteopenia has a significant link with substantial fracture risk. Epidemiological data revealed a protective role of adipose tissue on bone biology in postmenopausal osteoporosis. The current study assessed the associations between select adipokines and bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women. A total of 175 Saudi postmenopausal women were selected and categorized based on their BMD (normal & low-BMD). Circulating levels of select adipokines (adiponectin, resistin, leptin, and adipsin), insulin, 25(OH)D and RANKI were determined using commercially available assay kits. BMD was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Overall and among low-BMD subjects, adiponectin consistently showed a significant inverse association with BMD (overall -0.34, p < 0.01; low BMD group -0.34, p < 0.01). In multiple regression, adiponectin (-0.29 +/- 0.06, p < 0.00) and resistin (-0.08 +/- 0.04, p < 0.05) were inversely significant with BMD overall, but after stratification the significance was lost for resistin (-0.05 +/- 0.04, p < 0.224) whereas adiponectin remained (-0.22 +/- 0.07, p < 0.02) in low-BMD subjects. Adipsin, leptin and lipocalin-2 showed no significant associations. Findings of the present study revealed that only adiponectin showed a significantly strong inverse association with low BMD, suggesting that insulin sensitivity may influence bone health in Arab postmenopausal women. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.