The association between vitamin D receptor FokI gene polymorphism and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to quantitatively summarize the evidence for vitamin D receptor (VDR) FokI gene polymorphism and osteoporosis risk in Caucasian and Asian postmenopausal women. Materials and methods: The PubMed, EMBASE, Weipu, CNKI, and Wanfang databases were searched for eligible studies. Case–control studies containing available genotype frequencies for F/f were chosen, and the odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to assess the strength of this association. Results: In total, 3349 osteoporosis cases and 3202 controls were identified in our meta-analysis. In the stratified analysis, a significant association was observed between VDR FokI gene polymorphism and postmenopausal osteoporosis susceptibility in Asian subjects (additive model: OR = 1.529, 95% CI 1.053–2.219, p = 0.026; dominant model: OR 2.711, 95% CI 1.693–4.342 p < 0.001; co-dominant model: ff vs. FF, OR 2.796, 95% CI 1.439–5.433 p = 0.002), and we failed to find any significant relationship in Caucasian populations. Conclusion: The present meta-analysis suggests that the VDR FokI genotype is associated with increased risk of osteoporosis in Asian women but not in Caucasian women. To draw comprehensive and true conclusions, further prospective studies with larger numbers of participants worldwide are needed to examine associations between VDR FokI polymorphism and osteoporosis.