Association of age-dependent height and bone mineral density decline with increased arterial stiffness and rate of fractures in hypertensive individuals.
OBJECTIVE
Hypertension and osteoporosis are age-related health risks differentially expressed in men and women. Here we have analysed their prevalence in a randomly selected cross-sectional cohort [CARTaGENE (CaG) of Quebec, Canada and explored their existing relationships along with height, arterial stiffness and bone fractures.


METHODS
The principal cohort CaG included 20 007 individuals of age 40-70 years. Participants were subjected to an extensive phenotyping and a questionnaire of medical history and habits.


RESULTS
We determined the differences in height of participants and their relation to hypertension status and sex in this cohort and validated it in two other cohorts (The Canadian Heart Health Study and a family cohort from the Saguenay Lac Saint-Jean, a region of Quebec). In all three cohorts, we found that at younger age individuals with hypertension are taller than normotensive individuals, but they have a shorter stature at an older age compared with normotensive individuals. In CaG, we observed that hypertension, low bone mineral density (BMD) and arterial stiffness are strongly associated with height when adjusted for antihypertensive medications (P < 0.0001). Fractures are the net outcome of low BMD, and a significant association is observed (odds ratio = 2.34, confidence interval = 2.12-2.57); this relation was stronger in hypertensive individuals compared with normotensive individuals particularly in younger hypertensive individuals. In addition, we observed that increased arterial stiffness was significantly correlated with a low BMD in both men and women at all ages.


CONCLUSIONS
Shorter stature in elderly, low BMD and fractures correlated with increased arterial stiffness and hypertension. We propose that hypertension and osteoporosis share components of accelerated aging.
aCentre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec bSimon Fraser University British Columbia, Bumbay, British Columbia cCHU Ste-Justine, Université de Montréal, Montréal dMédecine génétique, Université Laval, Ste-Foy, Québec eCentre of Genomics and Policy, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Human Genetics, McGill University fEcogene-21 Clinical Research Center and Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Rana
R
El-Bikai
Muhammad R
MR
Tahir
Johanne
J
Tremblay
Michel
M
Joffres
Ondřej
O
Šeda
Lucie
L
Šedová
Philip
P
Awadalla
Claude
C
Laberge
Bartha-Maria
BM
Knoppers
Pierre
P
Dumas
Daniel
D
Gaudet
Louis-Georges
LG
Ste-Marie
Pavel
P
Hamet
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001827:Body Height; D015519:Bone Density; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D058866:Osteoporotic Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011792:Quebec / Q000453:epidemiology; D059289:Vascular Stiffness
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents