Higher circulating parathormone is associated with smaller and weaker bones in obese children

What Was Tested

This observational study looks at Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84).

The aim of their study was to investigate the role of parathormone (PTH) and the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and its inhibitors, sclerostin and Dickkopf-1 (DKK1), as negative modulators of fat mass on bone.

Why It Was Studied

This was a cross-sectional observational study performed in 44 (26 males and 18 females) obese subjects, aged 11.41 ± 2.61 years.

Serum bone markers (intact procollagen-1N-terminal propeptide [P1NP] and serum carboxy-terminal telopeptide of collagen-1 [CTX]), sclerostin, DKK1, PTH, 25-hydroxyvitamin D and were also measured.

Who Took Part

The study group was 325 children.

PubMed indexes the participants as young children, children and teenagers, both men and women.

Thirty-seven normal-weight, healthy children (22 males and 15 females) of the same chronological age served as controls for the biochemical parameters and bone markers, while the data on bone geometry were evaluated according to their normative data obtained previously in a group of 325 control children.

How the Study Was Run

Digitalized X-rays were evaluated at the level of the second metacarpal bone for the determination of bone geometry: total cross-sectional area (TCSA), cortical area (CA), medullary area (MA), and bone strength (bending breaking resistance index [BBRI]).

What Was Measured

Serum bone markers (intact procollagen-1N-terminal propeptide [P1NP] and serum carboxy-terminal telopeptide of collagen-1 [CTX]), sclerostin, DKK1, PTH, 25-hydroxyvitamin D and were also measured.

Data for TCSA, CA, MA, and BBRI are expressed as a standard deviation score in order to normalize them for age and sex.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Body Composition, Bone and Bones, Obesity, Parathyroid Hormone, Radiography and Wnt Signaling Pathway.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is an observational study of Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84) in 325 children.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

The publication is from 2014 (Calcified tissue international), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Parathyroid Hormone (PTH 1-84) compound page, all human trials.