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Association of stressful life events with accelerated bone loss in older men: the osteoporotic fractures in men (MrOS) study

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Abstract

Summary

Prior studies suggest an association between stressful life events and fractures that may be mediated by BMD. In the current study, risk of accelerated hip BMD loss was higher in older men with any type of stressful life event and increased with the number of types of stressful life events.

Introduction

Prior studies suggest that stressful life events may increase adverse health outcomes, including falls and possibly fractures. The current study builds on these findings and examines whether stressful life events are associated with increased bone loss.

Methods

Four thousand three hundred eighty-eight men aged ≥65 years in the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men study completed total hip bone mineral density (BMD) measures at baseline and visit 2, approximately 4.6 years later, and self-reported stressful life events data mid-way between baseline and visit 2, and at visit 2. We used linear regression to model the association of stressful life events with concurrent annualized total hip BMD loss, and log binomial regression or Poisson regression to model risk of concurrent accelerated BMD loss (>1 SD more than mean annualized change).

Results

Men (75.3 %) reported ≥1 type of stressful life event, including 43.3 % with ≥2 types of stressful life events. Mean annualized BMD loss was −0.36 % (SD 0.88), and 13.9 % of men were categorized with accelerated BMD loss (about 5.7 % or more total loss). Rate of annualized BMD loss increased with the number of types of stressful life events after adjustment for age (p < 0.001), but not after multivariable adjustment (p = 0.07). Multivariable-adjusted risk of accelerated BMD loss increased with the number of types of stressful life events (RR, 1.10 [95 % confidence interval (CI), 1.04–1.16]) per increase of one type of stressful life event). Fracture risk was not significantly different between stressful life event-accelerated bone loss subgroups (p = 0.08).

Conclusions

In these older men, stressful life events were associated with a small, dose-related increase in risk of concurrent accelerated hip bone loss. Low frequency of fractures limited assessment of whether rapid bone loss mediates any association of stressful life events with incident fractures. Future studies are needed to confirm these findings and to investigate the mechanism that may underlie this association.

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Funding

The Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study is supported by National Institutes of Health funding. The following institutes provide support: the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), and NIH Roadmap for Medical Research under the following grant numbers: U01 AG027810, U01 AG042124, U01 AG042139, U01 AG042140, U01 AG042143, U01 AG042145, U01 AG042168, U01 AR066160, and UL1 TR000128. This material is also the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.

Conflicts of interest

Howard A. Fink, Michael A. Kuskowski, Jane A. Cauley, Brent C. Taylor, John T. Schousboe, Peggy M. Cawthon, and Kristine E. Ensrud declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Sponsor’s role

The funding agencies had no direct role in the conduct of the study; the collection, management, analyses and interpretation of the data; or preparation or approval of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geriatric Research Education & Clinical Center, Veterans Affairs Health Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    H. A. Fink & M. A. Kuskowski

  2. Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research, Veterans Affairs Health Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    H. A. Fink, B. C. Taylor & K. E. Ensrud

  3. Department of Medicine, and Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    H. A. Fink, B. C. Taylor & K. E. Ensrud

  4. Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    J. A. Cauley

  5. Park Nicollet Institute, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    J. T. Schousboe

  6. Division of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    J. T. Schousboe

  7. California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, San Francisco, CA, USA

    P. M. Cawthon

  8. Veterans Affairs Health Center (11-G), One Veterans Drive, Minneapolis, MN, 55417, USA

    H. A. Fink

Authors
  1. H. A. Fink
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  2. M. A. Kuskowski
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  3. J. A. Cauley
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  4. B. C. Taylor
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  5. J. T. Schousboe
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  6. P. M. Cawthon
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  7. K. E. Ensrud
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Consortia

For the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study Group

Corresponding author

Correspondence to H. A. Fink.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 3 Association of stressful life event (LE) types with risk of accelerated total hip BMD loss, RR (95% CI)
Full size table

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Fink, H.A., Kuskowski, M.A., Cauley, J.A. et al. Association of stressful life events with accelerated bone loss in older men: the osteoporotic fractures in men (MrOS) study. Osteoporos Int 25, 2833–2839 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-014-2853-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-014-2853-8

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