Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: The relationship between adipokines and bone mineral density (BMD) is unclear, with conflicting results.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine if adipokine levels differ between postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and healthy postmenopausal women, and if these levels are associated with low BMD. The adipokines studied included adiponectin, leptin, resistin, visfatin, vaspin, chemerin, omentin-1, retinol binding protein 4 (RBP-4), CTRP3.

Materials and methods: A literature review was conducted using Ovid MEDLINE(R) and Scopus databases from 1946 to 26 July 2019 with updates in November 2020 and July 2023. Postmenopausal women with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans and at least one adipokine measurement were included. Osteoporosis was considered if the T score was -2.5 SD or below. If the T score was reported between +1 and -1 SD, subjects were considered to have a normal BMD. Quality assessment was performed using the Joanna Briggs critical appraisal tool. The study protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020148001).

Results: The research strategy identified 1273 records of which 26 studies were included in this systematic review. Additionally, 3 studies were manually added, making 29 studies in total with a sample size of 3237 postmenopausal women. Most studies were cross-sectional (n = 26) with 3 being longitudinal. The studies exhibited a wide heterogeneity in adipokines, sample size, subject characteristics, and BMD measurement site. Leptin and adiponectin were the most frequently studied adipokines. Leptin levels were typically lower in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, while adiponectin, resistin, chemerin levels were higher. No significant associations were found for other adipokines with osteoporotic status. Most studies showed a positive relationship between leptin and BMD, but no strong evidence supported a link between BMD and other adipokines.

Conclusions: Leptin, adiponectin, resistin and chemerin appear to have a discriminative capacity of osteoporotic status, however, only leptin is consistently associated with BMD.