Background: Cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and sarcopenia are very common age-related conditions. This study aimed at investigating the relationships of cardiac calcifications, as assessed by using GCCS with BMD, fragility fractures and sarcopenia in elderly subjects.
Methods: In a cohort of 106 subjects (age 70.4 ± 5.8 yrs) we measured lumbar (BMD-LS), femoral BMD (femoral neck: BMD-FN, total femur: BMD-TH) and body composition (BMD-WB) with Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) method. We also evaluated the presence of sarcopenia on the basis of the EWGSOP Consensus. All subjects, simultaneously, underwent to a transthoracic color doppler echocardiography exam to assess the presence of cardiac calcifications. The degree of non coronaric cardiac calcifications was evaluated using the Global Cardiac Calcium Score (GCCS).
Results: The degree of cardiac calcification assessed by GCCS was significantly higher in osteoporotic patients (p < 0.001). Furthermore, an inverse correlation emerged between BMD and GCCS, statistical significance was found at lumbar spine and femoral sub-regions in female population (p < 0.01). Moreover by dividing population according to the presence of fragility fractures, we observed that GCCS values were significantly higher in subjects with fractures in respect of non-fractured ones (p < 0.05). Multiple regression models showed that BMD-LS and BMD-FT were independently associated with cardiac calcification. GCCS values were significantly associated with BMI and ASMM in women (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively) and with handgrip strength in men (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: Our data confirm the presence of a relationship between cardiac calcifications and decreased BMD values. It's also the first study that relates sarcopenia and valvular calcifications.
Keywords: Cardiac calcifications; Fragility fracture; Global cardiac calcium score; Osteoporosis; Sarcopenia.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.