title: Bone Mineral Density is an Independent Determinant of Left Ventricular Mass Index in the General Female Population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is a well known cardiovascular prognostic predictor. Osteoporosis has been suggested to be associated with cardiovascular disease. According to studies of primary hyperparathyroidism, a pathophysiological association between calcium metabolism and LVH has been suggested but is not yet fully understood. This study was performed to investigate the association between bone mineral density (BMD) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) in a general population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from 460 subjects among 543 subjects sampled from a general population in a rural area in Korea were analyzed. BMD, echocardiography, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) measurement as well as the measurements of blood pressure, blood chemistry and metabolic parameters were analyzed. BMD was measured using the Sahara Clinical Bone Sonometer (Hologic Inc., Mass., USA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Age of the subjects was 59.4±12.4 years. Males were 42.2% (n=194). In a simple correlation analysis on female subjects, age and waist circumference showed negative correlation, and body mass index (BMI) showed positive correlation with BMD. However, only age showed negative correlation with BMD in male subjects. After adjusting baPWV and carotid IMT, we found that BMD was an independent determinant of LVMI in female subjects (β=-13.703, p=0.016), but not in male subjects (β=-1.235, p=0.841).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BMD is a consistent and independent determining factor of LVMI, BMI and carotid IMT in postmenopausal women.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Hyo
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Jinho
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Jae Ung
authors.initials: JU
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Heon Kil
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Sangmo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Mi-Kyung
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Bo Youl
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Yu-Mi
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Kim