URINARY N TELOPEPTIDE- THE IDEAL BIOMARKER FOR OSTEOPOROSIS.

Corresponding Author:
Dr. Ganesan G. Ram,
Department of Orthopaedics,
No. 1, Ramachandra Nagar,
Porur, Chennai-600116, Tamilnadu, India.
E-mail: ganesangram@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND

Osteoporosis and its complications cause a huge burden on that individual and the economy of the country. Hence diagnosing and treating osteoporosis is of paramount importance. At present, there are plenty of bone turnover markers available for monitoring the treatment and diagnosing osteoporosis. The aim of this study is to evaluate as to whether urinary n telopeptide is an ideal biomarker for diagnosing osteoporosis.

METHODS

This prospective case control study was done in Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research Hospital, Chennai, between August 2015 and August 2018. The study was approved by the institutional ethics committee. The study was done among  volunteers who visited the hospital either as an inpatient or outpatient with suspected osteoporosis. The inclusion criteria were- female more than 65 years and males more than 70 years and female less than 60 years and male less than 65 years having one or more risk factors for osteoporosis. All patients who participated in the study underwent both urinary n telopeptide urine test and DEXA scan. Those patients whose DEXA report came as osteoporosis/osteopenia were taken as cases and those whose DEXA came as normal were considered as controls. We had sixty people as cases and fifty as controls. The collected data were analysed with IBM. SPSS statistics software 23.0 Version. To find the significant difference between the bivariate samples in independent groups, the unpaired sample t-test was used.

RESULTS

The mean urinary n telopeptide value for cases was 182.5 and control was 49.8. The standard deviation for case and control were 159.9 and 31.3 respectively with standard error mean of 20.6 and 4.4 respectively. The mean urinary n telopeptide values in the group 60 years and 65 years were statistically insignificant proving that urinary n telopeptide test won’t changes much once the patient attained menopause. The mean urinary n telopeptide values between male and female were statistically insignificant in both cases and control indicating that urinary n telopeptide value won’t change between gender and it mainly depends on bone resorption only.

CONCLUSIONS

Since urinary N telopeptide has less bio analytical non-modifiable variability, urinary N telopeptide can be considered as an ideal bone resorption biomarker.

KEY WORDS

Bone Biomarker, Urinary Marker, Fracture, DEXA Scan, Bone Turnover