Lens Autofluorescence Based Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) Measurement to Assess Risk of Osteopenia Among Individuals Under the Age of 50

INTRODUCTION: Simple non-invasive biomarker is urgently needed to detect the largely silent osteopenia in order to prevent osteoporosis-related fracture later in life. The accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) has been related to reduced bone density and osteoporotic fractures. Whether lens autofluorescence (LAF) based AGEs (LAF-AGEs) measurement could be used to assess the risk of osteopenia is aimed to investigate in this paper. METHODS: Through routine health examination, 368 individuals under the age of 50 were enrolled. A dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) device was used to measure bone mineral density (BMD) of the forearm and determine osteopenia. AGE levels were derived with LAF along with the other demographic and laboratory parameters. After deriving the age-adjusted AGE levels (AALs), a linear regression analysis and an ordered logistic regression analysis were applied to examine the associations between osteopenia and LAF-AGEs as well as AALs. RESULTS: Negative correlations (Pearson r = −0.16, p < 0.001) were found between LAF-AGEs and T-scores. Higher AALs were significantly associated (p = 0.004) with escalated level of osteopenia in the ordered logistic analysis. DISCUSSION: After reviewing the relevant studies, it is concluded that LAF-AGE is a more stable measure of long-term metabolic dysfunction than circulating AGE. LAF-AGEs are a valid, practical and non-invasive parameter for osteopenia risk evaluation. Further studies with longer follow-up will be helpful to clarify its effectiveness for osteoporosis risk assessment.