Relationship between bone mineral density and serum osteoprotegerin in patients with chronic heart failure.

PURPOSE: Heart failure (HF) had been reported with increased risk of hip fractures. However, the relationship between circulating biomarkers and bone mineral density (BMD) in chronic HF remained unclear. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study which recruited stable chronic HF from registry of the Heart Failure Center of National Taiwan University Hospital. Patients underwent dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) measurements at hip and lumbar spines and biochemical assessments including B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP-32), myostatin, follistatin and osteoprotegerin (OPG). RESULTS: A total of 115 stable chronic HF individuals with left ventricular ejection fraction (EF)