Can osteoporosis increase the incidence of heart failure in adults?

Abstract

Background: Recent studies have suggested shared comorbidities between heart failure and osteoporosis. In addition, patients with osteoporosis are associated with increased risks of developing cardiovascular disease.

Methods: A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted to determine the association between osteoporosis and heart failure. Data was from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000 (LHID 2000), Taiwan. Patients with newly diagnosed osteoporosis were identified, and osteoporosis-free controls were randomly selected from the general population and frequency matched according to age, sex, and index year using the LHID 2000. We analyzed the risks of heart failure using Cox proportional-hazards regression models.

Results: During the mean follow-up of 7.1 ± 3.5 years, the cumulative incidence of heart failure was 2.24% higher in the osteoporosis cohort than in the comparison cohort (p < .001). The overall incidence of heart failure was 10.3 versus 7.62 per 1000 person-years in osteoporosis patients and controls, respectively, with an adjusted HR of 1.13 (95% CI = 1.06-1.21).

Conclusion: We observed a higher incidence of developing heart failure in Taiwanese adults with osteoporosis, especially in those with chronic comorbidities. There might be linking pathophysiology and mechanisms from osteoporosis to heart failure.

Keywords: Comorbidity; heart failure; osteoporosis; retrospective cohort analysis.