Systematic review and meta‐analysis for the association of bone mineral density and osteoporosis/osteopenia with vascular calcification in women

Aim The relationships of osteoporosis/osteopenia and bone mineral density (BMD) with vascular calcification (VC) remain controversial. Thus, we performed this systematic review and meta‐analysis to evaluate the association between BMD, osteoporosis/osteopenia risk and VC. Methods PubMed, Embase and Springer databases were searched from inception to March, 2015 for studies involving the association of vascular calcification with BMD and osteopenia/osteoporosis in women. A manual search of the references cited in the publications was also employed for more relevant studies. The heterogeneity was assessed using Cochran's Q statistic and I 2 test. Weighted mean difference (WMD) or odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) in the VC group and control group were appropriately pooled. Results Four studies were enrolled in the meta‐analysis. The pooled effects indicated that the spine BMD (WMD = −0.08, 95% CI: −0.11 to −0.06) and hip BMD (WMD = −0.06, 95% CI: −0.10 to −0.07) in VC group were significantly lower than those in control group, respectively. Moreover, patients with VC were prone to develop osteoporosis (OR = 4.39, 95% CI: 2.82–6.83) and osteopenia (OR = 1.72, 95% CI: 1.14–2.60). Conclusion The results suggest that patients with VC have lower lumbar spine and hip BMD levels and increased risk for developing osteoporosis/osteopenia. Thus, VC patients should be evaluated for the presence of osteoporosis/osteopenia, as well as susceptibility to fractures.