Research carried out in Canada suggests that one in 10 patients suffering from heart disease also have compression fractures in the spine that could have been detected by a chest X-ray, but few will be receiving treatment to help prevent such fractures. The study, which was published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Heart Failure, investigated 623 heart disease patients and found that 12 per cent had moderate to severe compression fractures of the spine and 55 per cent of those had multiple fractures. These fractures are a sign of osteoporosis, a condition that causes bones to become less dense more likely to break. Only 15 per cent of the heart disease patients with spinal fractures were being treated for osteoporosis, despite having a higher risk for fractures.
The senior author of the study and Assistant Professor at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute in the University of Alberta says: "While reviewing chest X-rays to look at the heart and lungs, doctors also need to look carefully at the bones. If fractures are found, patients need to be treated with dietary modification, exercise and, where necessary, osteoporosis medications. Treatment can reduce future fractures by as much as 50 per cent. As the population ages, two of the most prevalent diseases are heart disease and osteoporosis and while hip fractures are the most devastating complication of osteoporosis, vertebral compression fractures are by far the most common."
Researchers found a higher incidence of fractures than in previous studies as spinal fractures often do not produce symptoms and therefore go undiagnosed. This places patients at a higher risk of more vertebral fractures and subsequent hip fractures.
