Korean J Geriatr Gerontol.  2013 Jun;14(1):20-26.

The Association between Bone Mineral Density and Pulse Wave Velocity in Korean Healthy Men

• Kim S
• Chun H
• Lee SW
• Lee HS
• Shim KW

Abstract

Background
Osteoporosis and atherosclerosis are common diseases, with a high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors. Despite numerous epidemiological studies have established a significant association between osteoporosis and atherosclerosis, the pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying the two diseases are unknown. The present study was designed to evaluate the relationship between bone mineral density (BMD) and arterial stiffness in healthy men.
Methods
We evaluated arterial stiffness and BMD of 603 healthy men. Aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) was measured as indices of elastic-type aortic stiffness.
Results
The mean age was 44.91 years and mean body mass index was 24.6 (kg/m 2 ), mean aortic PWV was 9.95 (m/s). The aortic PWV was decreased according to the level of total femur BMD. The aortic PWV was observed to be positively correlated with age, BMI, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, pulse rate, glucose, fat mass and total femur BMD were negatively correlated with aortic PWV. In multiple linear regression analysis, we found that the total femur BMD was a significant predictor of aortic PWV (β=−6.303, P=0.001).
Conclusion
The results indicate that aortic PWV was significantly higher in adults with lower total femur BMD.

Keyword

Bone mineral density; Aortic pulse wave velocity; Arterial stiffness