Association of Lower Serum Sclerostin Levels With Elevated Risk for Increased Arterial Stiffness: The JPOS Cohort...

Studies on the relationship between serum sclerostin, a Wnt/β-catenin pathway inhibitor, and atherosclerosis have yielded inconsistent results.

We aim to longitudinally investigate the relationship between serum sclerostin levels and the risk of increased arterial stiffness in Japanese community-dwelling women from the Japanese Population-based Osteoporosis Study (JPOS).

Of 1044 women aged ≥ 50 years whose brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) value was available in a baseline survey in 2011-2012, we excluded 374 whose baPWV values were ≥ 1800 cm/s, set as the cutoff for increased arterial stiffness, and 8 with missing data. Of the remaining 662 women, 556 participated in the 4- to 5-year follow-up study and were included in the analysis. The coefficient of variation of the sclerostin measurement was 3.45%. We obtained odds ratios (ORs) for sclerostin at baseline, categorized by tertiles, with the high tertile as reference for increased arterial stiffness.

Increased arterial stiffness occurred in 94 women during a mean follow-up of 4.0 years. The increased arterial stiffness rates in the low, medium, and high tertiles were 22.2%, 16.1%, and 12.4%, respectively (trend test P = .013). The ORs for the medium and low tertiles for increased arterial stiffness were 1.58 (P = .205) and 2.16 (P = .027), respectively, after adjusting for age and baseline baPWV. After further adjustment for baseline body mass index, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and whole-body bone mineral content, the ORs for the medium and low tertiles were 1.65 (P = .181) and 2.50 (P = .014), respectively.

Lower serum sclerostin levels were associated with elevated risks for increased arterial stiffness in Japanese community-dwelling women.