Vitamin D receptor Bsm I polymorphism and osteoporosis risk in postmenopausal women: a meta-analysis from 42 studies

This study aimed to quantitatively summarize the evidence for VDR BsmI gene polymorphism and osteoporosis risk in postmenopausal women.

The PubMed, EMBASE, Weipu, CNKI, and Wanfang databases were searched for eligible studies. Case-control studies containing available genotype frequencies of B/b were chosen, and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to assess the strength of this association.

4485 osteoporosis and 5490 controls were identified in our meta-analysis. In the stratified analysis, a significant association was observed between VDR BsmI gene polymorphism and osteoporosis susceptibility in Caucasians (additive model: OR = 0.809, 95% CI 0.678~0.965, p = 0.019; recessive model: OR = 0.736, 95% CI 0.568~0.955, p = 0.021; and co-dominant model: bb vs. BB OR = 0.701, 95% CI 0.511~0.962 p = 0.028), and we failed to find any significant relationship in Asians.

The present meta-analysis suggests that VDR BsmI genotype is associated with increased risk of postmenopausal osteoporosis in Caucasians but not in Asians. To draw comprehensive and true conclusions, further prospective studies with larger numbers of participants worldwide are needed to examine associations between VDR BsmI polymorphism and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.