This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related articles  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Rheumatology, Other  • Alert me on articles by topic

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

In Reply: The assay for soluble free RANKL has been validated according to usual standards,¹ is commercially available, and is commonly used.^1-3 Main characteristics including lower detection limit and interassay as well as intra-assay coefficients of variation are provided.^{1, 4} Mean serum levels of RANKL are very similar among different cohorts.^{1, 4} RANKL levels emerged as stable over a 5-year period and correlations between RANKL levels measured from 1990 and 1995 blood samples and between 1990 and 2000 were high, at 0.63 and 0.36 pmol/L, respectively. Figure 2 in our study was based on all individuals.

We agree that the number of nontraumatic fractures is comparatively low but we do not agree that this diminishes the quality of our data. There are 3 potential problems with a low number of cases: (1) P values just under .05; (2) broad confidence intervals; and (3) potential effects of a nonrandom error in case ascertainment. . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Georg Schett, MD
georg_schett@yahoo.com

Kurt Redlich, MD; Peter Pietschmann, MD; Josef Smolen, MD
University of Vienna
Vienna, Austria

Stefan Kiechl, MD; Johann Willeit, MD
Innsbruck University Clinic
Innsbruck, Austria

Friedrich Oberhollenzer, MD; Siegfried Weger, MD; Georg Egger, MD; Agnes Mayr, MD; Josef Jocher, MD
Bruneck Hospital
Bruneck, Italy

Qingbo Xu, MD
St George's Hospital Medical School
London, England

Steven Teitelbaum, MD
Washington University School of Medicine
St Louis, Mo

RELATED ARTICLES

Soluble RANKL and Risk of Nontraumatic Fracture
Håkan Melhus
JAMA. 2004;291(22):2703.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Soluble RANKL and Risk of Nontraumatic Fracture
Georg Schett, Stefan Kiechl, Kurt Redlich, Friedrich Oberhollenzer, Siegfried Weger, Georg Egger, Agnes Mayr, Josef Jocher, Qingbo Xu, Peter Pietschmann, Steven Teitelbaum, Josef Smolen, and Johann Willeit
JAMA. 2004;291(9):1108-1113.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT