BONE-FRACTURE HISTORY AND PROSPECTIVE BONE-FRACTURE RISK OF HEMODIALYSIS-PATIENTS ARE RELATED TO APOLIPOPROTEIN-E GENOTYPE

This investigation of 219 hemodialysis patients relates the history an d prospective risk of bone fractures to apolipoprotein E (apoE) genoty pe. A greater percentage of the 41 patients with the E3/4 and E4/4 gen otypes than of the 38 patients with the E2/3 and E2/2 genotypes had a history of bone fractures at the time of recruitment (44% versus 16%, P < 0.005). During the 4 years following recruitment, more of the pati ents with apoE genotypes E3/4 and E4/4 than with apoE genotypes E2/3 a nd E2/2 suffered bone fractures, but this difference was not statistic ally significant (17.1 versus 5.3%, P < 0.1). ApoE genotype appears to be an important genetic risk factor for bone fracture, possibly due t o its previously reported influence on vitamin K concentrations in blo od.