Rana EL-Bikaia, Muhammad R. Tahira, Johanne Tremblaya, Michel Joffresb, Ondr¡ej S¡ edaa, Lucie S¡ edova´ a, Philip Awadallac, Claude Laberged, Bartha-Maria Knopperse, Pierre Dumasa, Daniel Gaudetf, Louis-Georges Ste-Mariea, and Pavel Hameta
Objective
Hypertension and osteoporosis are agerelated health risks differentially expressed in men and women. Here we have analysed their prevalence in a randomly selected cross-sectional cohort [CARTaGENE (CaG) of Quebec, Canada and explored their existing relationships along with height, arterial stiffness and bone fractures.
Methods
The principal cohort CaG included 20 007 individuals of age 40–70 years. Participants were subjected to an extensive phenotyping and a questionnaire of medical history and habits.
Results
We determined the differences in height of participants and their relation to hypertension status and sex in this cohort and validated it in two other cohorts (The Canadian Heart Health Study and a family cohort from the Saguenay Lac Saint-Jean, a region of Quebec). In all three cohorts, we found that at younger age individuals with hypertension are taller than normotensive individuals, but they have a shorter stature at an older age compared with normotensive individuals. In CaG, we observed that hypertension, low bone mineral density (BMD) and arterial stiffness are strongly associated with height when adjusted for antihypertensive medications (P<0.0001). Fractures are the net outcome of low BMD, and a significant association is observed (odds ratio¼2.34, confidence interval¼2.12–2.57); this relation was stronger in hypertensive individuals compared with normotensive individuals particularly in younger hypertensive individuals. In addition, we observed that increased arterial stiffness was significantly correlated with a low BMD in both men and women at all ages. Conclusion
Shorter stature in elderly, low BMD and fractures correlated with increased arterial stiffness and hypertension. We propose that hypertension and osteoporosis share components of accelerated aging.
Keywords
arterial stiffness, bone mineral density, fractures, height, hypertension, men and women.
Abbreviations
Aix, augmentation index; BMD, bone mineral density; BP, blood pressure; BUA, broadband ultrasound attenuation; CaG, CARTaGENE; CHHS, Canadian Heart Health Survey; cPP, central pulse pressure; CPTP, Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project; CVD, cardiovascular disease; KCNAB1, potassium voltage-gated channel gene; SLSJ, Saguenay-Lac St-Jean; SNP, single nucleotide polymorphism