Relationships of plasma total homocysteine (HCY), folates and vitamin B12 levels to vertebral fracture and bone mineral density in Moroccan healthy postmenopausal women

Introduction: a potential role of Homocysteine (HCY) in bone metabolism has been considered from the observation of high prevalence of osteoporosis in subjects with Homocystinuria about 50 years ago. But the mechanism linking the increased level of HCY to increased fracture risk is not clear. The objective of this study was to investigate this possible relationship between vertebral fractures and HCY level in Moroccan postmenopausal women. Methods: one hundred and twenty-two healthy postmenopausal women gave their informed consent to participate in this cross-sectional study. Women were recruited through advertisements and mouth to ear between January 2017 and May 2017. Bone mineral density was determined by a Lunar Prodigy Vision DXA system. Vertebral fracture assessment image was inspected visually by 2 clinicians. Results: we found that a high level of HCY or low levels of vitamin B12 and folates are not associated to the bone mineral density and are not risk factors for vertebral fractures in healthy postmenopausal women. Whereas, the presence of vertebral fracture was associated to the number of years since menopause and to the OC level. Probably this is due to the young age of the patients involved in this study. We also showed that high level of HCY is associated with the number of years since menopause and not age for women. Conclusion: we found that a high level of HCY or low levels of vitamin vitamin B12 and folates are not associated to the bone mineral density and are not risk factors for vertebral fracture in healthy Moroccan postmenopausal women.