Bone status in men with heart failure: results from the Studies Investigating Co-morbidities Aggravating Heart Failure

Abstract

Aim: To assess bone status expressed as hip bone mineral density (BMD) in men with heart failure (HF).

Methods and results: A total of 141 male patients with HF underwent dual energy X-ray absorptiometry to assess their BMD. We analysed markers of bone metabolism. Patients were classified as lower versus higher BMD according to the median hip BMD (median = 1.162 g/cm² ). Survival was assessed over 8 years of follow-up. Patients with lower BMD were older (71 ± 10 vs. 66 ± 9 years, p = 0.004), more likely to be sarcopenic (37% vs. 7%, p < 0.001) and to have lower peak oxygen consumption (absolute peak VO₂ 1373 ± 480 vs. 1676 ± 447 ml/min, p < 0.001), had higher osteoprotegerin and osteocalcin levels (both p < 0.05) compared to patients with higher BMD. Among 47 patients with repeated BMD assessments, a significant reduction in BMD was noted over 30 months of follow-up. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, serum osteocalcin remained independently related with lower BMD (odds ratio [OR] 1.738, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.136-2.660, p = 0.011). Hip BMD and serum osteoprotegerin were independent predictors of impaired survival on Cox proportional hazard analysis (hazard ratio [HR] 0.069, 95% CI 0.011-0.444, p = 0.005, and HR 0.638, 95% CI 0.472-0.864, p = 0.004, respectively).

Conclusions: Patients with HF lose BMD over time. Markers of bone turnover can help in identifying patients at risk with osteocalcin being an independent marker of lower hip BMD and osteoprotegerin an independent predictor of death. HF patients with increased osteocalcin and osteoprotegerin may benefit from BMD assessment as manifest osteoporosis seems to be too late for clinically meaningful intervention in HF.

Keywords: Bone status; Co-morbidities; Heart failure.