Bone turnover and insulin-like growth factor I levels increase after improved glycemic control in noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

It is unclear whether both bone resorption and formation are affected by glycemic control, and contribute to diabetic osteopenia. In this study, 20 patients with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (12 men and 8 postmenopausal women) and 20 healthy control subjects (10 men and 10 postmenopausal women) were examined at baseline and 2 months. The diabetic patients showed an improvement of glycemic control (decreased HbA1c) at the second measurement. Analysis of variance showed that there was no effect of gender on the variables that increased with improved glycemic control, and therefore results are presented for both male and female subjects. Baseline values of serum osteocalcin, a marker of formation, were significantly lower in diabetic patients compared with healthy subjects (2.5 +/- 1.3 versus 4.4 +/- 1.4 ng/ml; P = 0.0006), but markers of bone resorption [urinary pyridinoline (PYD), deoxypyridinoline (DPD)] did not differ. Improved glycemic control in diabetic patients resulted in increased values of PYD (P = 0.012), DPD (P = 0.049), serum osteocalcin (P = 0.001), and serum insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I, P = 0.003), but no change in serum parathyroid hormone or 25-hydroxyvitamin D. In diabetic patients there were inverse correlations for the percent change from baseline to improved glycemic control for osteocalcin and HbA1c (r = -0.53; P = 0.016) and glucose (r = -0.46; P = 0.050). These data suggest that improved glycemic control is accompanied by an increase in bone turnover for male and female diabetic patients, possibly mediated by increased levels of circulating IGF-I.