Circulating Osteocalcin: A Potential Predictor of Ketosis in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

AIMS: Osteocalcin contributes to the regulation of endocrine system. However, the association between osteocalcin and ketosis has not been evaluated. We thus aimed to explore the relationship between total osteocalcin and risk of ketosis in type 2 diabetes (T2DM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We identified 6157 diabetes patients from Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital between 1 January 2011 and 1 March 2017. Six hundred eight subjects were enrolled in the retrospective cross-sectional study: 304 T2DM patients with ketosis whose age, gender, and body mass index were matched with 304 T2DM patients without ketosis. A further retrospective nested case-control study was conducted in 252 T2DM patients without ketosis for a mean duration of 21.58 +/- 12.43 months to investigate the occurrence of ketosis. RESULTS: Osteocalcin levels were negatively correlated with blood ketones (adjusted r = -0.263) and urine ketones (adjusted r = -0.183). The inverse dose-dependent relationship of osteocalcin and risk of ketosis was present across osteocalcin level quintiles (top quintile as the reference, adjusted odds ratio [95% CI] = 2.56 [0.80-8.17], 3.71 [0.90-15.29], 10.77 [2.63-44.15], 23.81 [4.32-131.17] per osteocalcin quintile, respectively). Ketosis occurred in 17 of the 252 T2DM patients during follow-up. The Cox regression analysis indicated that osteocalcin was an independent protective factor against development of ketosis (adjusted hazard ratio [95% CI]: 0.668 [0.460-0.971]). CONCLUSIONS: Total osteocalcin can be used as a predictor of ketosis in T2DM.