We have demonstrated an independent association between elevated serum OPG levels and increased 8.5 year risk of CVD and all-cause mortality in elderly women [12], while others have demonstrated similar associations in patients with diabetes [10], severe renal dysfunction [13] and renal transplant patients [14, 15], and in those with pre-existing CVD [9, 12, 16]. Here, TNFRSF11B is linked to diabetes mellitus.