Association of Bone Mineral Density and Bone Turnover Markers with the Risk of Diabetes: Hong Kong Osteoporosis Study and Mendelian Randomization.

Preclinical studies demonstrated that bone plays a central role in energy metabolism. However, how bone metabolism is related to the risk of diabetes in humans is unknown. We investigated the association of bone health (bone mineral density [BMD] and bone turnover markers) with incident type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) based on the Hong Kong Osteoporosis Study (HKOS). A total of 993 and 7160 participants from the HKOS were studied for the cross-sectional and prospective analyses, respectively. The cross-sectional study evaluated the association of BMD and bone biomarkers with fasting glucose and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c ) levels, whereas the prospective study examined the associations between BMD at study sites and the risk of T2DM by following subjects a median of 16.8 years. Body mass index (BMI) was adjusted in all full models. Mendelian randomization (MR) was conducted for causal inference. In the cross-sectional analysis, lower levels of circulating bone turnover markers and higher BMD were significantly associated with increased fasting glucose and HbA1c levels. In the prospective analysis, higher BMD (0.1 g/cm2 ) at the femoral neck and total hip was associated with increased risk of T2DM with hazard ratios (HRs) of 1.10 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03 to 1.18) and 1.14 (95% CI, 1.08 to 1.21), respectively. The presence of osteoporosis was associated with a 30% reduction in risk of T2DM compared to those with normal BMD (HR = 0.70; 95% CI, 0.55 to 0.90). The MR results indicate a robust genetic causal association of estimated BMD (eBMD) with 2-h glucose level after an oral glucose challenge test (estimate = 0.043; 95% CI, 0.007 to 0.079) and T2DM (odds ratio = 1.064; 95% CI, 1.036 to 1.093). Higher BMD and lower levels of circulating bone biomarkers were cross-sectionally associated with poor glycemic control. Moreover, higher BMD was associated with a higher risk of incident T2DM and the association is probably causal. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).

COVID-19 vaccines and risks of hematological abnormalities: Nested case-control and self-controlled case series study.

Several studies reported hematological abnormalities after vaccination against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We evaluated the association between COVID-19 vaccines (CoronaVac and BNT162b2) and hematological abnormalities. We conducted nested case-control and self-controlled case series analyses using the data from the Hong Kong Hospital Authority and the Department of Health, HKSAR. Outcomes of interest were thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, and neutropenia. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs), incidence rate ratios (IRRs), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using conditional logistic regression. In total, 1 643 419 people received COVID-19 vaccination (738 609 CoronaVac; 904 810 BNT162b2). We identified 457 and 422 cases after CoronaVac and BNT162b2 vaccination, respectively. For CoronaVac, the incidence of thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, and neutropenia was 2.51, 1.08, and 0.15 per 10 000 doses. For BNT162b2, the corresponding incidence was 1.39, 1.17, and 0.26 per 10 000 doses. The incidence per 10 000 COVID-19 cases were 1254, 2341, and 884, respectively. We only observed an increased risk of leukopenia following the second dose of BNT162b2 (aOR 1.58, 95% CI 1.24-2.02; day 0-14, IRR 2.21; 95% CI 1.59-3.08). There was no increased risk of any hematological abnormalities after CoronaVac vaccination. We observed an increased risk of leukopenia shortly after the second dose of BNT162b2. However, the incidence was much lower than the incidence following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections. There was no association between CoronaVac and hematological abnormalities. The benefits of vaccination against COVID-19 still outweigh the risk of hematological abnormalities.