Does low bone mineral density cause a broken heart?

O steoporosis, with its attendant fractures, is one of the most common and heartbreaking conditions in our aging society. In the United States, 2 million osteoporotic fractures occur each year, of which some 600,000 are in men (1). These skeletal events cause significant pain, disability, and functional impairment. For patients with a hip fracture, two-thirds must spend time in a rehabilitation or nursing facility. Once home, 50% of these women and men never return to their previous level of ambulation and function (2). Hip and other osteoporotic fractures are morbid events; 15% to 25% of patients with a hip fracture die within 12 months of the fracture (3). Although these devastating consequences of osteoporosis have long been appreciated, new research in this issue of JACC: Heart Failure (4) suggests that osteoporosis may also be literally causing broken hearts.