[Overview: derangement of bone metabolism in diabetes mellitus]

Since it is well known that insulin actions have direct and indirect effects on bone metabolism, bone metabolism and bone fragility in patients with diabetes mellitus is a clinically important issue to be addressed. As in glucose metabolism, an involvement of insulin deficiency and insulin resistance should be discussed independently in bone metabolism. Impaired bone formation is primarily involved in bone loss in patients with type 1 diabetes who are lack in insulin secretion. In contrast, bone fragility due to poor bone quality is a major problem in patients with type 2 diabetes who are resistant to insulin actions. Through clinical investigations, it has been established that elderly women with diabetes are at high risk in fracture. Taken together, one should be aware of bone integrity in patients with diabetes, especially in elderly women.