Citation

Szulc P, Blackwell T, Schousboe JT, Bauer DC, Cawthon P, Lane NE, Cummings SR, Orwoll ES, Black DM, Ensrud KE. J. Bone Miner. Res. 2014; 29(4): 968-975.

Affiliation

INSERM UMR 1033, University of Lyon, Lyon, France.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, American Society for Bone and Mineral Research)

DOI

10.1002/jbmr.2085

PMID

23983224

Abstract

A significant link between cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis is established in postmenopausal women, but data in men are scarce. We tested the hypothesis that greater severity of abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) was associated with an increased risk of non-spine fracture in 5994 men aged ≥65 years. AAC wasassessed on 5400 baseline lateral thoraco-lumbar radiographs using a validated visual semi-quantitative score. Total hip bone mineral density (BMD) was measured using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Incident non-spine fractures were centrally adjudicated. After adjustment for age, BMI, total hip BMD, fall history, prior fracture, smoking status, co-morbidities, race and clinical center, the risk of non-spine fracture (n = 805) was increased among men with higher AAC (HR Q4 (AAC score ≥9) vs Q1 (0-1): 1.36, 96%CI: 1.10-1.68). This association was due to an increased risk of hip fracture (n = 178) among men with higher AAC (HR Q4 vs Q1: 2.33, 95%CI: 1.41-3.87). By contrast, the association between AAC and the risk of non-spine-non-hip fracture was weaker and not significant (HR Q4 vs Q1: 1.22, 95%CI: 0.96-1.55). The findings regarding higher AAC and increased risk of fracture were not altered in additional analyses accounting for degree of trauma, estimated glomerular filtration rate, presence of lumbar vertebral fractures (which may bias AAC assessment), preexisting cardiovascular disease, ankle brachial index or competing risk of death. Thus, in this large cohort of elderly men, greater AAC was independently associated with an increased risk of hip fracture, but not with other non-spine fractures. These findings suggest that AAC assessment may be a useful method for identification of older men at high risk of hip fracture.

Language: en