Effects of total bilirubin on the prevalence of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women without potential liver disease

It is still uncertain whether total bilirubin per se is a risk factor for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and no study has so far examined this important issue. This study was designed to assess the sheer effects of total bilirubin on the prevalence of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women without potential liver disease. In the present study, postmenopausal female subjects without potential liver disease (n = 918) who underwent measurement of bone mineral density were enrolled. Correlation and logistic regression analysis were used to assess the relationship between total bilirubin and other variables. As a result, subjects with osteoporosis had a significantly lower total bilirubin level (P = 0.005). A 0.1 mg/dl increase in total bilirubin was associated with reduced odds ratio of the risk by 38 % for osteoporosis [OR 0.62 (95 % CI 0.52–0.88), P = 0.012] after adjustment for several variables. Total bilirubin was independently associated with BMD [coefficient = 0.41, 95 % CI (0.35–0.47), P < 0.001 for lumbar spine and coefficient = 0.44, 95 % CI (0.36–0.48), P < 0.001 for femur neck]. A positive correlation could be observed with significant difference between total bilirubin and z-score (r = 0.33, P < 0.001 for lumbar spine and r = 0.37, P < 0.001 for femur neck) and total bilirubin was positively correlated with serum calcium (r = 0.13, P < 0.001) as well. Therefore, this study demonstrates an independent inverse association between total bilirubin and the prevalence of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women without potential liver disease. Total bilirubin would be useful as a provisional new risk factor of osteoporosis in such a population.