Abstract
Summary
Risk factors for osteoporotic fractures were evaluated in 1,396 men and women for a period of 20 years. Serum total cholesterol was found to be an independent osteoporotic fracture risk factor whose predictive power improves with time.
Introduction
The purpose of this study was to evaluate long-term risk factors for osteoporotic fracture.
Methods
A population random sample of men and women aged 25–64 years (the Gothenburg WHO MONICA project, N = 1,396, 53% women) was studied prospectively. The 1985 baseline examination recorded physical activity at work and during leisure time, psychological stress, smoking habits, coffee consumption, BMI, waist/hip ratio, blood pressure, total, HDL and LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and fibrinogen. Osteoporotic fractures over a period of 20 years were retrieved from the Gothenburg hospital registers. Poisson regression was used to analyze the predictive power for osteoporotic fracture of each risk factor.
Results
A total number of 258 osteoporotic fractures occurred in 143 participants (10.2%). As expected, we found that previous fracture, smoking, coffee consumption, and lower BMI each increase the risk for osteoporotic fracture independently of age and sex. More unexpectedly, we found that the gradient of risk of serum total cholesterol to predict osteoporotic fracture significantly increases over time (p = 0.0377).
Conclusions
Serum total cholesterol is an independent osteoporotic fracture risk factor whose predictive power improves with time. High serum total cholesterol is a long-term cause of osteoporotic fracture.
References
Center JR, Nguyen TV, Schneider D, Sambrook PN, Eisman JA (1999) Mortality after all major types of osteoporotic fracture in men and women: an observational study. Lancet 353:878–882
Kanis JA, Oden A, Johnell O, De Laet C, Jonsson B, Oglesby AK (2003) The components of excess mortality after hip fracture. Bone 32:468–473
Trimpou P, Landin-Wilhelmsen K, Oden A, Rosengren A, Wilhelmsen L (2010) Male risk factors for hip fracture—a 30-year follow-up study in 7,495 men. Osteoporos Int 21:409–416
Wilhelmsen L, Johansson S, Rosengren A, Wallin I, Dotevall A, Lappas G (1997) Risk factors for cardiovascular disease during the period 1985–1995 in Goteborg. Sweden. The GOT-MONICA Project. J Intern Med 242:199–211
Saltin B, Grimby G (1968) Physiological analysis of middle-aged and old former athletes. Comparison with still active athletes of the same ages. Circulation 38:1104–1115
Wilhelmsen L, Tibblin G, Aurell M, Bjure J, Ekstrom-Jodal B, Grimby G (1976) Physical activity, physical fitness and risk of myocardial infarction. Adv Cardiol 18:217–230
Breslow NE, Day NE (1987) Statistical methods in cancer research. Volume II—The design and analysis of cohort studies. IARC Sci Publ 1–406
Marshall D, Johnell O, Wedel H (1996) Meta-analysis of how well measures of bone mineral density predict occurrence of osteoporotic fractures. BMJ 312:1254–1259
Cox DR (1972) Regression models and life tables. J R Stat Soc Ser B Stat Methodol 34:187–220
Liptser RS, Shiryaev AN (2001) Statistics of random processes. I. General theory, Springer, New York
Buizert PJ, van Schoor NM, Lips P, Deeg DJ, Eekhoff EM (2009) Lipid levels: a link between cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis? J Bone Miner Res 24:1103–1109
Hwang DK, Choi HJ (2010) The relationship between low bone mass and metabolic syndrome in Korean women. Osteoporos Int 21:425–431
Bauer DC, Mundy GR, Jamal SA, Black DM, Cauley JA, Ensrud KE, van der Klift M, Pols HA (2004) Use of statins and fracture: results of 4 prospective studies and cumulative meta-analysis of observational studies and controlled trials. Arch Intern Med 164:146–152
Solomon DH, Avorn J, Canning CF, Wang PS (2005) Lipid levels and bone mineral density. Am J Med 118:1414
Bagger YZ, Rasmussen HB, Alexandersen P, Werge T, Christiansen C, Tanko LB, PERF study group (2007) Links between cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women: serum lipids or atherosclerosis per se? Osteoporos Int 18:505–512
Yamaguchi T, Sugimoto T, Yano S, Yamauchi M, Sowa H, Chen Q, Chihara K (2002) Plasma lipids and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Endocr J 49:211–217
Tanko LB, Bagger YZ, Nielsen SB, Christiansen C (2003) Does serum cholesterol contribute to vertebral bone loss in postmenopausal women? Bone 32:8–14
Ahmed LA, Schirmer H, Berntsen GK, Fonnebo V, Joakimsen RM (2006) Features of the metabolic syndrome and the risk of non-vertebral fractures: the Tromso study. Osteoporos Int 17:426–432
Hsu YH, Venners SA, Terwedow HA et al (2006) Relation of body composition, fat mass, and serum lipids to osteoporotic fractures and bone mineral density in Chinese men and women. Am J Clin Nutr 83:146–154
Rejnmark L, Olsen ML, Johnsen SP, Vestergaard P, Sorensen HT, Mosekilde L (2004) Hip fracture risk in statin users—a population-based Danish case-control study. Osteoporos Int 15:452–458
Acknowledgments
Grants from The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Fund, The Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation, The Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research, The Gothenburg Medical Society, and The ALF agreement at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital supported this study.
Conflicts of interest
None.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Trimpou, P., Odén, A., Simonsson, T. et al. High serum total cholesterol is a long-term cause of osteoporotic fracture. Osteoporos Int 22, 1615–1620 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-010-1367-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-010-1367-2