Ventricular and supraventricular ectopic beats burden is correlated with bone mineral density and osteoporotic fracture risk in postmenopausal women.

BACKGROUND

Patients with osteoporosis (OP) have an increased 10-year cardiovascular death risk. Low bone mineral density (BMD) observed in OP may be associated with arrhythmic presentation of cardiovascular diseases.

AIMS: We assessed arrhythmia occurrence in females with osteoporosis.

METHODS

One hundred three postmenopausal females, consulted by an endocrinologist, were divided into 2 groups according to BMD (assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry), expressed as T-score (T-sc; OP ≤-2.5, control >-2.5), taken from the femoral neck (T-sc Neck), the entire total hip (T-sc TH), and/or the spine (T-sc L2-L4, L1-L4). The occurrence of arrhythmia was evaluated using 24-hour Holter electrocardiography monitoring (HM). Major osteoporotic and total hip fracture risks (MOFR and THFR, respectively) were assessed by the FRAX scale.

RESULTS

Arrhythmic burden correlated with BMD: correlations were observed between the number of ventricular ectopic beats (VEB) in HM and the T-sc Neck (r = -0.20; P = 0.04), T-sc TH (r = -0.22; P = 0.03) as well as between the number of supraventricular ectopic beats (SVEB) in HM and the T-sc Neck (r = -0.21; P = 0.03), and T-sc TH (r = -0.23; P = 0.02). Multivariable analysis (linear regression model) showed age and T-sc TH as independently related with ectopy: age (b = 0.07; 95% CI, 0.01-0.13; P = 0.03) and T-sc TH (b = -0.58; 95% CI, -1.07 to -0.08; P = 0.02) were predictors for VEB. Ectopic beats count was also positively correlated with osteoporotic fracture risk: VEB with THFR (r = 0.206; P = 0.04), and SVEB with MOFR (r = 0.21; P = 0.04).

CONCLUSIONS

Postmenopausal women diagnosed with osteoporosis are likely to have higher risk of ventricular and supraventricular arrhythmias than women without osteoporosis. Moreover, we documented that the presence of cardiac arrhythmia increases with the risk of osteoporotic fractures.