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Bone fragility, sarcopenia and cardiac calcifications in an elderly population: a preliminary study

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Abstract

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.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Surgery and Neuroscience, University of Siena, Policlinico Le Scotte, Viale Bracci 2, 53100, Siena, Italy

    Carla Caffarelli, Antonella Al Refaie, Leonardo Baldassini, Carlo Renato Pondrelli & Stefano Gonnelli

  2. Internal Medicine, San Giovanni di Dio Hospital, Florence, Italy

    Paolo Carrai

Authors
  1. Carla Caffarelli
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  2. Antonella Al Refaie
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  3. Leonardo Baldassini
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  4. Paolo Carrai
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  5. Carlo Renato Pondrelli
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  6. Stefano Gonnelli
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Contributions

Design/conception: GS, CC, AA Literature search: GS, CC, AA. Data collection: AA, CP, BL. Data analysis: GS, CC Interpretation of results: GS, CC, Writing of paper and review: All authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stefano Gonnelli.

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Conflict of interest

All other authors report no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Siena University Hospital (ID-12715-Siena Osteoporosi). In addition, this study was performed in accordance with the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Human and animal rights

All cohorts included in the analysis were conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Caffarelli, C., Al Refaie, A., Baldassini, L. et al. Bone fragility, sarcopenia and cardiac calcifications in an elderly population: a preliminary study. Aging Clin Exp Res 35, 1097–1105 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-023-02393-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-023-02393-z

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