Cardiovascular diseases and risk of hip fracture.

Full Abstract

CONTEXT: Recent studies indicate common etiologies for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and osteoporotic fractures. OBJECTIVES: To examine the relation between CVD and risk of hip fracture in twins and evaluate the relative importance of genetics and lifestyle factors in this association. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A cohort of all 31,936 Swedish twins born from 1914-1944 was followed up from the age of 50 years. The National Patient Registry identified twins with CVDs and fractures from 1964 through 2005. Time-dependent exposures using Cox proportional hazard regression models were evaluated. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Time to hip fracture after diagnosis of CVD. RESULTS: The crude absolute rate of hip fractures was 12.6 per 1000 person-years after a diagnosis of heart failure, 12.6 per 1000 person-years after a stroke, 6.6 per 1000 person-years after a diagnosis of peripheral atherosclerosis, and 5.2 per 1000 person-years after a diagnosis of ischemic heart disease compared with 1.2 per 1000 person-years for those without a CVD diagnosis. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of hip fracture after a diagnosis of heart failure was 4.40 (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.43-5.63); after a stroke, the HR was 5.09 (95% CI, 4.18-6.20); after a diagnosis of peripheral atherosclerosis, the HR was 3.20 (95% CI, 2.28-4.50); and after an ischemic heart disease event, the HR was 2.32 (95% CI, 1.91-2.84). Identical twins without heart failure and stroke also had, after their co-twins had been exposed to these respective diseases, an increased rate of hip fracture. These sibling twins pseudoexposed for heart failure had a multivariable-adjusted HR of 3.74 (95% CI, 1.97-7.10) for hip fracture, whereas pseudoexposure for stroke had an HR of 2.29 (95% CI, 1.20-4.35). CONCLUSIONS: A diagnosis of CVD was significantly associated with risk of subsequent hip fracture. Increased risks in co-twins without an index diagnosis suggest genetic factors in the association between CVD and osteoporotic fractures.

Author information

Author/s: Sennerby, Ulf (U); Melhus, Håkan (H); Gedeborg, Rolf (R); Byberg, Liisa (L); Garmo, Hans (H); Ahlbom, Anders (A); Pedersen, Nancy L (NL); Michaëlsson, Karl (K);

Affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences, Section of Orthopaedics, Uppsala University, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden.

Grants: AG 08754 (Agency:NIA NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Twin Study

Journal: JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Oct; vol 302 (issue 15) : pp 1666-73

Dates: Created 2009/10/21; Completed 2009/11/02;

PMID: 19843901, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/2/2009, IMS Date: )

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