José-Luis Pérez-Castrillón^1,4, Manuel Gonzalez-Sagrado^2,4, Marta Gonzalez-Rozas¹, Maria Andres-Calvo¹, Elena Izquierdo-Delgado¹, Marcelino Mendo³, Daniel de Luis^2,4 and Antonio Dueñas-Laita¹

¹Department of Medicine, University Hospital Rio Hortega University of Valladolid, Spain. ²Research Unit, University Hospital Rio Hortega University of Valladolid, Spain. ³Department of Radiology, University Hospital Rio Hortega University of Valladolid, Spain. ⁴RETICEF (Thematic Network of Cooperative Research into Aging and Fragility).

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between cholesterol and triglycerides and bone mineral density in patients with vascular disease (hypertension and acute coronary syndrome).

Methods: The study included 217 patients (83 men and 134 women), aged between 36 and 76 (mean age 59 ± 10), with hypertension and acute coronary syndrome. Information obtained included anthropometric measurements, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides; bone mineral density (BMD) was recorded at the lumbar spine.

Results: BMD was significantly lower in patients in the higher tertiles of cholesterol (p = 0.041). The effect was maintained after adjustment for age and Body Mass Index (BMI). However, there was no association between the range of triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and bone mass.

Conclusions: A relationship was found between total cholesterol and bone mineral density in patients with vascular disease.