Association between polymorphisms of apolipoprotein E, bone mineral density of the lower forearm, quantitative ultrasound of the calcaneus and osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal women with hip or lower forearm fracture.

A genetic contribution to the development of osteoporosis is well documented. Although the association between the common allelic variation of apolipoprotein E (APOE), fracture risk, bone loss and bone mineral density (BMD) has been examined in several studies, the results of these investigations are contradictory. The aim of this study was to examine the association between polymorphisms of APOE, BMD of the lower forearm, quantitative ultrasound of the calcaneus and osteoporotic fractures in a population of postmenopausal women with hip or lower forearm fractures admitted to a department of orthopaedic surgery and age-matched controls from the population register. The APOE genotypes of 327 women were studied: 73 with lower forearm fractures, 43 with hip fractures and 211 age-matched controls. The participants were not receiving antiosteoporotic treatment. Polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to detect the APOE genotypes. Quantitative ultrasound was measured at the calcaneus. Bone mineral density (BMD) of the lower forearm was measured with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. The distributions of genotype frequencies in this study were: E2/E2: 0.3%; E2/E3: 16.5%; E2/E4: 2.5%; E3/E3: 54.7%; E3/E4: 24.2%; E4/E4: 1.8%. All subpopulations were in Hardy-Weinburg equilibrium. There was no association between bone mass parameters and the APOE allele groups. Logistic regression analysis did not show any association between fractures and APOE allele groups. In conclusion, this study showed no association between bone mass parameters (BMD, speed of sound (SOS), broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA)), hip or lower forearm fracture and APOE genotypes in a population of postmenopausal women and age-matched controls.