Osteoporosis and atherosclerosis: a post-mortem MDCT study of an elderly cohort

To evaluate how far fracture status and bone mineral density (BMD) correlate with the vascular calcification score (CS). On 29 complete human cadavers (17 female, 12 male; mean age at death was 85.57 years), multi-detector computed tomography was performed to assess the spine fracture status (fracture vs non-fracture [FX vs non-FX]) and CS of the coronary arteries (Coro-CS), the aorta (Aorta-CS) and the pelvic vessels (Iliac-CS). Quantitative computed tomography of the lumbar spine was performed to estimate overall BMD (osteoporotic [BMD < 80 mg/cm(3)] vs non-osteoporotic [BMD a parts per thousand yen80 mg/cm(3)]). Gender-specific differences in statistical significance were only observed for Aorta-CS and Iliac-CS but not for Coro-CS. When comparing the osteoporotic with the non-osteoporotic group, statistically significant differences were only found for Iliac-CS (P < 0.05); however, linear regression analysis showed none of the CSs to significantly correlate with BMD. In our small post-mortem elderly population, statistically significant associations of fracture status and BMD with CS were only observed between the osteoporotic and non-osteoporotic groups for the pelvic vessels but not for the coronary arteries and the aorta. aEuro cent Gender-specific differences were observed for aortic and iliac calcification score (CS). aEuro cent There was no difference in coronary CS between females and males. aEuro cent Only iliac CS was different in osteoporotic and non-osteoporotic subjects. aEuro cent In linear regression analysis, CS showed no correlation with BMD. aEuro cent In univariate analysis, gender was a BMD and iliac CS confounder.