నైరూప్య

Association of hyperhomocysteinemia with osteoporosis: a systematic review

Pooneh Salari, Bagher Larijani and Mohammad Abdollahi

Osteoporosis, especially in postmenopausal women, is a major health and economic concern in the world. Environmental, metabolic and genetic factors play roles in determination of bone mass and health. Over the past several years, evidence has been growing regarding the negative effects of homocysteine on bone health. The objective of this paper was to provide a review of the state of the science of homocysteine and osteoporosis. Medline, Index Medicus, Scopus, Google Scholar and Web of Sciences were searched for any paper regarding the effects of homocysteine on osteoporosis using key words of osteoporosis, bone health, homocysteine, hyperhomocysteinemia, and methylentetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphism. Most of the relevant citations from human literature were studied and summarized. Regarding bone mineral density, risk of fracture and bone markers that have been studied, the negative effects of homocysteine on bone health seems considerable. Vitamin B deficiency may play an important role in bone metabolism, which has to be further investigated. According to the differences in genetic predisposition, environmental, sex differences and nutritional factors, further studies are needed to explore the effective mechanisms of association between homocysteine and osteoporosis.