Apart from OPG levels, in our multivariate analysis overall mortality was also associated with age, the degree of comorbidity, and smoking, as expected; as well as with the levels of troponin-I (as a marker of cardiac damage) and IL-18 and albumin (as markers of inflammation-malnutrition) showing the complex pathogenesis of the disease in this population. Here, IL18 is linked to malnutrition.