Associations between bone mineral density and subclinical peripheral arterial disease in elderly men with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

To investigate the association between subclinical peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and bone mineral density (BMD) at total hip, femoral neck, and lumbar spine (L1-4) in elderly men with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We identified 2,466 patients with confirmed diabetes in this retrospective cross-sectional study. A total of 272 men aged ≥ 55years with T2DM (50 with subclinical PAD and 222 without PAD) were analyzed. Partial correlation analysis was conducted to explore the associations between ankle-brachial index (ABI) and BMD. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze the contributor for low bone density (T-score < - 1.0). Patients with T2DM and subclinical PAD (ABI ≤ 0.9) had significantly lower total hip BMD and T-score (BMD, 0.87 ± 0.14 vs. 0.92 ± 0.15g/cm2, P = 0.014; T-score, -1.30 [-1.70 to -0.45] vs. -0.80 [-1.40 to 0.00], P = 0.009) than those in the control group. The partial correlation analyses indicated that ABI significantly correlated with the total hip T-score (adjusted r = 0.166, P = 0.009). The logistic regression analysis indicated that subclinical PAD was an independent risk factor for the risk of decreased bone density in total hip (adjusted odds ratio [95% CI]: 8.933 [1.075-74.222], P= 0.043). CONCLUSION: Subclinical PAD (ABI ≤ 0.9) could be used as a risk factor for decreased total hip BMD in men aged ≥ 55years with T2DM, which provides clinical clues for the early detection of low bone density in total hip in such populations.