Association between vascular calcification and osteoporosis in men with type 2 diabetes.

Abstract Atherosclerotic vascular disease is common in diabetes, and some data support a link with bone loss. This study evaluates the association between osteoporosis and clinical and metabolic factors and chronic complications of diabetes. We studied 59 diabetic men aged 50–80yr who were assessed with bone densitometry (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry). Of them, 10.2% of the patients were found to have osteoporosis in the lumbar spine and 45.8% osteopenia, whereas in the femoral neck, 11.8% had osteoporosis and 49% had osteopenia. There was a significant association of osteoporosis in the lumbar spine L1–L4 ( p =0.004) and in the femoral neck ( p =0.036) with iliac artery calcification. In addition, there was no association with any other metabolic factors, clinical factors, or chronic complications of diabetes evaluated, except for an association between a previous personal history of fractures ( p =0.016) and low bone mineral density in the femoral neck. In conclusion, we found a positive association between the iliac artery calcification and osteoporosis in type 2 diabetic male patients.