Higher C-reactive protein levels as biochemical determinant of osteoporosis in Punjab

The present cross-sectional study involved 300 postmenopausal women to examine the role and relevance of C-reactive protein (CRP) and nitric oxide (NO) as the biochemical determinants of osteoporosis in the population of Punjab, India. Subjects were verified having osteoporosis on the basis of dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) testing at hip (femoral neck) and lumbar spine (L1-L4 vertebrae). Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were conducted for the quantitative analysis of CRP and NO. It was observed that women having higher levels of CRP (>3mg/L) were at substantially higher risk of osteoporosis (OR 2.29 95%CI: 1.44 – 3.87, P<0.001) than women having lower levels of CRP (<3mg/L). Present study could not find any association of NO levels with the risk of osteoporosis. Linear regression analysis confirmed that higher the CRP levels, higher was the risk of low BMD at both lumbar spine (P<0.001) and femoral neck (P<0.001). In conclusion, present study has revealed that higher serum CRP levels are associated with the risk of osteoporosis, whereas, NO does not participate in it.