Abstract
Osteoporosis and atherosclerosis are significant public health problems that often coexist, especially in the elderly. Although some studies have reported an age-dependent relationship, others have suggested a causal relationship between osteoporosis and atherosclerosis. The aim of our study was to evaluate the cardiovascular risk in a population of patients with osteoporosis by measuring carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV). A total of 58 patients with osteoporosis and an equal number of healthy control subjects were enrolled. All subjects underwent (1) a bone densitometry examination using dual X-ray absorptiometry, (2) a vascular evaluation for the measurements of cIMT and cf-PWV and (3) a blood sample for the evaluation of lipids and phosphocalcic metabolism. Patients with osteoporosis had a significant increase in cIMT and cf-PWV. There was also a significant inverse correlation between the femoral neck BMD and cf-PWV values. In conclusion, osteoporotic outpatients have earlier vascular ageing, with an increase of arterial stiffness. These data support a possible association between osteoporosis and atherosclerosis independent of age.
Highlights
Osteoporosis and atherosclerosis are significant public health problems that often coexist, especially in the elderly
Patients with osteoporosis had significantly lower lumbar and femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD) values compared with controls, while there were no significant differences between the two groups regarding the other biochemical parameters
The patients with osteoporosis had a significant increase in carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV), carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and augmentation index (AIx) compared with controls (Table 2)
Summary
Osteoporosis and atherosclerosis are significant public health problems that often coexist, especially in the elderly. The aim of our study was to evaluate the cardiovascular risk in a population of patients with osteoporosis by measuring carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV). In a recent meta-analysis of 25 studies with 10,300 patients conducted by Ye et al.[8], the incidence of any atherosclerotic vascular disease was significantly increased in subjects with low bone mineral density (BMD) compared to those with normal BMD, with an odds ratio (OR) of 2.96 and after adjustment for the various cardiovascular risk factors. The aim of this study was to search whether there is a relationship, independent of age, between osteoporosis and two early markers of atherosclerosis: common carotid artery intima-media thickness (cIMT) and carotidfemoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV)
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