The bone mass (BM) and chronic cardiac decompensation (CCD) in an elderly population

This study intended to evaluate the existing correlation between the cardiac compensation and the bone mass, investigating the bone mineral density (BMD) in a population suffering from CCD or chronic heart disease (CHD). We enrolled 171 patients, all over the age of 70, being in the functional N.Y.H.A. Class II (Population A: 85 patients) and in Class III (Population B: 86 patients). All patients underwent an analysis of their cardiac functions using a Doppler echo-cardiographic method measuring the ventricular ejection fraction (VEF), as well as the BMD by means of a computerized bone mineralometric DEXA method, performed in vertebral and femoral measurement sites. Both populations proved to be osteopenic, displaying reduced values of BMD. Higher bone mineral losses were measured in the patients who had more severe cardiac insufficiency. The present data revealed a significant reduction of BMD in the N.Y.H.A. Class III patients, in correlation with the VEF (p<0.001), both in the lumbar vertebral area (p<0.01) and even more in the femoral sites (p<0.001), where a direct correlation exists between BMD and the VEF. On the basis of these findings one can suggest that the actual VEF level has an influence on the bone turnover, reducing the mineral content through various mechanisms of action.