Brittle bones link to heart disease

Brittle bones link to heart disease

By Pat Hagan
In Chicago

Osteoporosis increases the risk of fracture

A link has been found between brittle bones and the risk of heart disease in women.

A study by US researchers shows women who have early signs of osteoporosis are up to five times more likely to have damaged arteries than those with healthy bones.

The association was so strong that low bone density was a stronger predictor of heart disease than major risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes or a family history of heart disease.

This is believed to be the first time the bone-wasting illness has been linked with cardiac disease.

But the findings do fit with earlier research suggesting women taking vitamin D supplements to protect against thinning bones also see a decline in heart attacks.

Dr Hillary Tran, from the William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, said: "Our study is the first to report an increase in documented coronary artery disease in patients with osteoporosis.

"The presence of osteoporosis predicts significant coronary stenosis, narrowing of the arteries, with higher odds ratio than traditional risk factors."

Common condition

Osteoporosis affects one in three women and one in 12 men in the UK.

Although it is regarded as a disease of old age, research suggests its roots may lie in adolescence.

Tens of thousands of more women are thought to have osteopenia - thinning of the bones that puts them in danger of the disease.

Several risk factors, such as age, diabetes, high blood pressure and smoking, can affect a woman's chances of getting both osteoporosis and heart disease.

Dr Tran and colleagues decided to investigate whether patients with one disease were more likely to have the other.

They carried out bone scans and angiograms on 209 patients, most of them women, over a two-year period.

Patients were split into groups according to whether they had normal bone density, osteopenia, or full-blown osteoporosis.

The results showed women who had early signs of bone disease were five times more likely than healthy volunteers to have damaged blood vessels.

For those with a family history of cardiac disease, the risk was 2.79 times greater and if they had high blood pressure, it was 2.3 times higher.

Other tests showed those with low bone density were likely to have a greater number of damaged blood vessels than women with normal bones.

The reason why thinning bones may be a marker for heart disease remains unclear but Dr Tran said more research is needed to investigate the relationship.

The results were presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Chicago.