title: Association of breast arterial calcification and osteoporosis in Turkish women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Breast arterial calcification (BAC), medial calcific sclerosis of small to medium-sized muscular arteries, is a benign finding of mammographic evaluation. Previous studies have shown the relationships between BAC and systemic disorders such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus and hypertension. The aim of this study was to determine the association between reduced bone mineral density and BAC.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study population consisted of 567 women who had both mammography and bone mineral density evaluation. BAC (+) and BAC (-) women were compared for age, body mass index, postmenopausal duration, number of deliveries, breastfeeding duration, DM, HT, lipid treatment, osteopenia, and osteoporosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  BAC was seen in mammographic evaluation of 179 women and 388 subjects without BAC accepted as the control group. There was a statistically significant relationship between age, postmenopausal duration, number of deliveries, history of DM, HT, lipid treatment and BAC. While the prevalence of osteopenia was higher in control group (52.8%), the rate of osteoporosis (48.7%) was higher in group with BAC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was statistically significant relationship between BAC and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Determination of BAC in routine screening mammography might be helpful in both identifying women with risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.
authors.affiliation: Nesrin Atci, MD, Department of Radiology, Mustafa Kemal University Medical School, Hatay, Turkey.
authors.forename: Nesrin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Atci
authors.affiliation: Eda Elverici, MD, Numune Education and Research Hospital, Department of Radiology, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Eda
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Elverici
authors.affiliation: Raziye Keskin Kurt, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mustafa Kemal University Medical School, Hatay, Turkey.
authors.forename: Raziye Keskin
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Kurt
authors.affiliation: Derya Ozen, MD, Numune Education and Research Hospital, Department of Radiology, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Derya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ozen
authors.affiliation: Ebru Unlu, MD, Afyon Kocatepe University Medical School, Department of Radiology, Afyon, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ebru
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Unlu
authors.affiliation: Levent Araz, MD, Numune Education and Research Hospital, Department of Radiology, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Levent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Araz
keywords: Bone mineral density; Breast arterial calcification; Menopause; Osteopenia; Osteoporosis