Early changes in biochemical markers of bone formation during teriparatide therapy correlate with improvements in vertebral strength in men with glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Teriparatide in the context of osteoporosis and bone density, published as a randomized controlled trial.

To investigate the correlations between biochemical markers of bone turnover and vertebral strength estimated by finite element analysis (FEA) in men with GIO.

Why It Was Studied

These results support the use of PINP as a surrogate marker of bone strength in GIO patients treated with teriparatide.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 92 men taking part.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, middle-aged adults, older adults and people over 80, men only.

High-resolution quantitative computed tomography images of the 12th thoracic vertebra obtained at baseline, 6 and 18 months were converted into digital nonlinear FE models and subjected to anterior bending, axial compression and torsion.

Serum biochemical markers of bone formation (amino-terminal-propeptide of type I collagen [PINP]) and bone resorption (type I collagen cross-linked C-telopeptide degradation fragments [CTx]) were measured at baseline, 3 months, 6 months and 18 months.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized and open-label study.

The men were allocated by chance, so the Teriparatide group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Everyone knew when Teriparatide was being given (open label), which is simpler to run but leaves more room for expectations to affect what is reported.

Stiffness and strength were computed for each model and loading mode.

A mixed-model of repeated measures analysed changes from baseline and between-group differences.

Spearman correlations assessed the relationship between changes from baseline of bone markers with FEA variables.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Biomarkers, Biomechanical Phenomena, Bone Density, Bone Density Conservation Agents, Etidronic Acid, Femur Neck and Finite Element Analysis.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and open-label study of Teriparatide in 92 men in people with osteoporosis and bone density.

Its findings take up roughly 4 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2013 (Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA), a journal based in England.

More context: the Teriparatide compound page, Osteoporosis and bone density research.