Six plasma metabolites show association with hip fracture risk
A study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (MA, USA) reveals six plasma metabolites linked to hip fracture risk, highlighting potential metabolic targets for fracture prevention.
Hip fractures are a severe complication of osteoporosis and their incidence is expected to double by 2050 as the population ages. The relationship between osteoporosis and plasma metabolomic profiles has been studied; however, how metabolomics factors into risk, specifically for hip fractures, remains largely unknown.
To address this knowledge gap, the Harvard team conducted multiple analyses of the metabolomic profiles of adults enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. The team used ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for a nested case-control analysis (N=1234) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for a replication cohort study (N=10,031).
They examined 653 plasma metabolites and 45 overlapped between the two studies. Among the overlapping metabolites, six phospholipid metabolism metabolites were associated with hip fracture risk across the two studies. Among the six identified metabolites, 1-stearoyl-2-dihomo-linolenoyl-GPC, a phosphatidylcholine metabolite, was consistently associated with a significantly lower risk of hip fracture. The study also found that phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine classes were inversely associated with hip fracture risk, suggesting that these specific metabolic pathways may play a protective role in bone health.
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This study provides the prospective evidence that altered phospholipid metabolism is associated with reduced hip fracture risk in both females and males. The researchers emphasized the need for future studies to validate these findings in other populations and explore whether incorporating metabolite measures alongside traditional risk factors, such as bone mineral density and FRAX scores, could improve fracture risk assessment.
Although further work is needed to validate these findings, they highlight the potential of plasma metabolomics in identifying novel risk factors for hip fractures and may inform the development of metabolite-based interventions for fracture prevention in ageing populations.
