Genetic markers of bone and joint health and physical capability in older adults: the HALCyon programme

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Good bone and joint health is essential for the physical tasks of daily living and poorer indicators of physical capability in older adults have been associated with increased mortality rates. Genetic variants of indicators of bone and joint health may be associated with measures of physical capability. METHODS: As part of the Healthy Ageing across the Life Course (HALCyon) programme, men and women aged between 52 and 90+ years from six UK cohorts were genotyped for a polymorphism associated with serum calcium (rs1801725, CASR), two polymorphisms associated with bone mineral density (BMD) (rs2941740, ESR1 and rs9594759, RANKL) and one associated with osteoarthritis risk rs3815148 (COG5). Meta-analysis was used to pool within-study effects of the associations between each of the polymorphisms and measures of physical capability: grip strength, timed walk or get up and go, chair rises and standing balance. RESULTS: Few important associations were observed among the several tests. We found that carriers of the serum calcium-raising allele had poorer grip strength compared with non-carriers (pooled p=0.05, n=11,239) after adjusting for age and sex. Inconsistent results were observed for the two variants associated with BMD and we found no evidence for an association between rs3815148 (COG5) and any of the physical capability measures. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest elevated serum calcium levels may lead to lower grip strength, though this requires further replication. Our results do not provide evidence for a substantial influence of these variants in ESR1, RANKL and COG5 on physical capability in older adults.

Source: Bone

DOI: 10.1016/j.bone.2012.10.004

Authors: Tamuno Alfred, Yoav Ben-Shlomo, Rachel Cooper, Rebecca Hardy, Cyrus Cooper, Ian J. Deary, David Gunnell, Sarah E. Harris, Meena Kumari, Richard M. Martin, Avan Aihie Sayer, John M. Starr, Diana Kuh, Ian N.M. Day

Institutions: University of Bristol, MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, University College London, University of Oxford, MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, University of Edinburgh, Southampton General Hospital, Alzheimer Scotland

Language: English

Topic: Bone health and osteoporosis research

Subfield: Orthopedics and Sports Medicine

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,960

Funders: Wellcome Trust, National Institute for Health and Care Research, British Heart Foundation, University of Southampton, University College London, University of Edinburgh, University of Bristol, Versus Arthritis, Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, National Institutes of Health, Directorate for Biological Sciences, Medical Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, World Cancer Research Fund, National Institute on Aging, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

OpenAlex ID: W2166679276