RESUMEN
Osteoporosis is an important health problem in India owing to the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency across all ages, low level of awareness and higher risk of complications. This disease is characterized by decreased bone mass, bone strength and higher risk of bone fracture. Here, we investigated association between osteocalcin HindIII gene polymorphism and bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal osteoporotic and postmenopausal healthy North Indian women, possibly the first study of this kind in the aforesaid population. We investigated Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) of osteocalcin HindIII in 254 postmenopausal osteoporotic (56.12±7.004 years) and 254 postmenopausal healthy (55.27±5.93 years) North Indian women. BMD at lumbar spine (L1-L4), femoral neck, hip and forearm was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). The results showed no significant correlation between osteocalcin HindIII gene polymorphism and BMD and we conclude that osteocalcin HindIII gene polymorphism may not have major effects on BMD variation in postmenopausal North Indian women.