The Relation of Plasma Osteocalcin and BMI in Subjects Who Visited a Health Promotion Center of a General Hospital

Kim, Ki jun; Kim, Kyoung kon; Hwang, In cheol; Lee, Kyung sik; Suh, Heuy sun

Abstract

BACKGROUND
There has been a rapid increase of obese population in South Korea. Obesity is a major factor in the development of cardiovascular and endocrinologic diseases. Adipokines, released from adipose tissue, are regarded as having an important role in the pathogenesis. Recent studies have reported the relationship between osteocalcin levels and factors related to energy metabolism and insulin resistance. However, the information on osteocalcin is insufficient. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the relationship between osteocalcin and obesity representing energy metabolism.
METHODS
A total of 851 healthy female subjects, who visited a health promotion center in a general hospital, were enrolled for the study. Physical measurements of the subjects were taken, their blood and urine were analyzed, and they were given self questionnaires to answer. The correlation between plasma osteocalcin with BMI, fasting glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride were investigated by multiple regression analysis.
RESULTS
The subjects involved 851 healthy women. Mean age was 50.8 +/- 6.8 years. Mean BMI was 23.7 +/- 2.9 kg/m2. Mean plasma osteocalcin was 11.5 +/- 7.8 ng/mL. Simple correlation analysis showed that osteocalcin was associated with fasting glucose, HbA1c, LDL-C but not with BMI (P = 0.259). However, multiple regression models showed that plasma osteocalcin was inversely related to BMI (beta = -0.111, P = 0.001). Urine deoxypyridinoline was not associated with other variables (P > 0.05).
CONCLUSION
Plasma osteocalcin, which is an indicator of energy metabolism, was inversely related to obesity.