A Radiographic Study on the Associations of Age and Prevalence of Vertebral Fractures with Abdominal Aortic Calcification in Japanese Postmenopausal Women and Men

Jun Iwamoto,Mitsuyoshi Uzawa,Tsuyoshi Takeda,Yoshihiro Sato,Hideo Matsumoto

doi:10.4061/2010/748380

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to determine the associations of age and history of non- and low-traumatic fractures with the severity of abdominal aortic calcification in Japanese postmenopausal women and men. Four hundred and one Japanese persons (24 men and 377 postmenopausal women, mean age: 73.8 years) for whom thoracic and lumbar spine radiographs had been obtained to evaluate their posture prior to patient participation in a fall-prevention exercise program were enrolled. The associations of sex, age, history of hip fracture, prevalence of vertebral fracture, and spondylosis grade (the Nathan degree) with the severity of abdominal aortic calcification (length of calcification, as evaluated according to the number of vertebral bodies) were analyzed. Nine subjects (2.2%) had a history of hip fracture, and 221 (55.1%) had at least one prevalent vertebral fracture. Two hundred and sixty-seven subjects (66.6%) had first-degree spondylosis. Age and the number of prevalent vertebral fractures, but not sex, history of hip fracture, or spondylosis grade, were significantly associated with the severity of abdominal aortic calcification. The present study confirmed that age and the number of vertebral fractures were associated with the severity of abdominal aortic calcification in Japanese postmenopausal women and men.

Highlights

Both vascular calcification and osteoporosis increase with age and are commonly observed in the elderly
Several hypotheses have been proposed by Farhat et al [6] to explain the association between aortic calcification, a surrogate marker of atherosclerosis, in terms of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis including (1) the age-related independent progressions of these diseases, (2) the presence of shared risk factors, (3) the presence of common pathological mechanisms that could lead to the development of both conditions and that may involve endogenous hormones or inflammatory cytokines, and (4) a cause-effect relationship whereby one condition may lead to the other
The present cross-sectional cohort study confirmed that age and the number of vertebral fractures, but not sex, history of hip fracture, or spondylosis grade, were associated with the severity of abdominal aortic calcification in Japanese postmenopausal women and men

Summary

Introduction

Both vascular calcification and osteoporosis increase with age and are commonly observed in the elderly. Aortic calcification detected on radiographs is considered to be indicative of late-stage atherosclerosis [1, 2]. It is intimately associated with atherosclerotic plaque development [3] and is an independent predictor of subsequent vascular morbidity and mortality [1, 2]. The associations of age and bone mineral density (BMD) with aortic calcification have been well examined [4,5,6,7,8,9,10], whether osteoporosis and aortic calcification are related to each other or are independent, age-related processes remain uncertain. Because the BMD T scores vary among skeletal sites, the history of non- or low-traumatic fractures, such as hip and vertebral fractures, may be a useful measure for assessing the severity of osteoporosis

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