{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]],"date-time":"2025-11-17T05:53:34Z","timestamp":1763358814419,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,1]],"date-time":"2021-02-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1612137600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100011665","name":"Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NO number"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NO number"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100011665","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Metabolites"],"abstract":"<jats:p>While the independent roles of vitamin D and sex hormones in skeletal health are well established, the associations of vitamin D and its metabolites to sex hormones and their indices are less investigated. In this observational study, clinical information of 189 Saudi postmenopausal women aged \u226550 years old [N = 80 with normal bone mineral density (BMD), aged 53.3 \u00b1 7.7 years with body mass index (BMI)= 34.1kg\/m2 \u00b1 5.8, and N = 109 with low BMD (T-score \u22121.0 to \u22122.5), aged 57.0 \u00b1 8.2 years, BMI = 32.4kg\/m2 \u00b1 6.2] was extracted from an existing capital-wide osteoporosis registry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Data included were BMD scores, serum total 25(OH)D, sex hormones, and bone turnover markers which were measured using commercially available assays. Age- and BMI-adjusted comparisons revealed significantly higher parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels as well as significantly lower testosterone and bioavailable testosterone in the low BMD group than the normal BMD group (p-values 0.04, 0.02, and 0.03, respectively). Stepwise linear regression showed that circulating testosterone levels accounted for 9.7% and 8.9% of the variances perceived in bioavailable 25(OH)D and free 25(OH)D, respectively (p &lt; 0.01), independent of other sex hormones, sex hormone indices, and bone turnover markers. Our study suggests that androgens are significantly associated with non-conventional vitamin D metabolites and these associations may have clinical relevance in assessing risk for low BMD and osteoporosis in Arab postmenopausal women.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/metabo11020086","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,1]],"date-time":"2021-02-01T11:40:48Z","timestamp":1612179648000},"page":"86","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Vitamin D Metabolites and Sex Steroid Indices in Postmenopausal Women with and without Low Bone Mass"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Nasser M.","family":"Al-Daghri","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Chair for Biomarkers of Chronic Diseases, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5200-2898","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sobhy M.","family":"Yakout","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chair for Biomarkers of Chronic Diseases, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4307-7679","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mohammed G.A.","family":"Ansari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chair for Biomarkers of Chronic Diseases, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Syed D.","family":"Hussain","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chair for Biomarkers of Chronic Diseases, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9568-6516","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kaiser A.","family":"Wani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chair for Biomarkers of Chronic Diseases, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5248-2350","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shaun","family":"Sabico","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chair for Biomarkers of Chronic Diseases, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ansari, M.G.A., Sabico, S., Clerici, M., Khattak, M.N.K., Wani, K., Al-Musharaf, S., Amer, O.E., Alokail, M.S., and Al-Daghri, N.M. 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