Table 1.
Heritable musculoskeletal biomarkers
| Biomarker | Aging-related changes | Predicts disease/condition: | Reference | h2 in Caucasiansa | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bone mineral density | Decrease (mostly in women), ∼1%/year | Fractures, CVD, dementia, mortality | Tan et al. (2005), Van Der Klift et al. (2002), Bauer et al. (2002) | 0.45–0.75 (∆ 0.37–0.49) | Hui et al. (2006) |
| Joint/cartilage | Increased Prevalence and severity of joint space narrowing and osteophytes increases | Osteoarthritis, walking disability; mortality | Munger et al. (1999), Haara et al. (2003), Haara et al. (2004) | 0.37 (knee OA) | MacGregor et al. (2009), Zhai et al. (2007) |
| Height | Decrease: 0.42% in men and 0.55% women, over 2 years (Cesari et al., 2009) | Osteoporosis | Soranzo et al. (2009) | >0.90 | Karasik et al. (2007) |
| Muscle mass | Muscle degeneration/loss | Muscle loss (sarcopenia) | Tan (2005) | 0.60–0.80 | Huygens et al., (2004), Seeman et al. (1996), Hsu et al. (2005) |
| Grip strength | Mean annual grip strength loss 0.59 kg in men and 0.31 kg in women (Frederiksen et al. 2002); 2.4% per year (Forrest et al. 2007) | Sarcopenia; mortality and disability; overall functioning | Melzer et al. (2007), Frederiksen et al. (2002), Rantanen et al. (2003) | 0.48–0.65 (∆ 0.32) | Frederiksen et al. (2002), Arden and Spector (1997), Tiainen et al. (2004), Silventoinen et al. (2008), Katzmarzyk et al. (2001) |
| Osteocalcin | Age-related decline | Osteoporosis; metabolic syndrome | (Kanazawa et al. 2009), (Vanderschueren et al. 1990) | 0.62 in a Mexican American population | Mitchell et al. (2000) |
ah2: heritability of biomarkers, both cross-sectional and of their change with age (∆), if reported