Oxytocin and bone status in men: analysis of the MINOS cohort

Summary Oxytocin, a neurohypophysial hormone, regulates bone metabolism in animal studies and postmenopausal women. In men, oxytocin is not associated with bone mineral density, bone turnover markers, or prevalent fractures, but weakly negatively with incident fragility fracture requiring further studies. Introduction We previously showed that serum oxytocin (OT) level is associated with bone mineral density (BMD) and bone turnover rate in postmenopausal women. The aim of our study was to assess the relationship between circulating OT levels and bone status in men. Methods In 552 men aged 50 and older from the MINOS cohort, we measured serum levels of OT. We assessed the association of serum OT levels with BMD (lumbar, femoral neck, total hip), bone turnover markers (BTM) (serum N-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PINP), bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (bone ALP), and C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX-I)) and fracture risk. Results In the univariate analysis, serum OT level was not associated with BMD at any site, BTM levels, or with prevalent or incident fracture. OT was significantly correlated with body mass index (BMI) ( r = 0.17, p