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

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 50-80 yr 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.