Reduced prealbumin is associated with bone mineral density in women with osteoporosis.

OBJECTIVES: Poor nutritional status is associated with osteoporosis (OP) in postmenopausal women. Moreover, recent studies documented that prealbumin is the best and most widely used parameter to monitor nutrition intervention and is a sensitive predictor of short-term outcome compared with albumin. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the association of prealbumin levels with bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with OP.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study recruited 664 women. Prealbumin levels and BMD at femoral neck and lumbar spine were measured. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to assess the correlation between prealbumin and BMD.

RESULTS: Results of this study found that prealbumin levels dropped gradually as BMD decreased. Furthermore, partial correlation analysis revealed that prealbumin was correlated with BMD after adjusting for confounders. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that prealbumin is a significant factor for reduced BMD in women (for BMD at spine L2-4, β = 0.186, P < 0.001; for BMD at femoral neck, β = 0.180, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: Prealbumin was significantly correlated with BMD after adjusting for traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Further prospective research is warranted to further enhance our understanding of the important role of prealbumin in OP.