Risk of earlier atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in women with low bone mineral density

Low bone mineral density (BMD) is associated with higher risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in women. We investigated whether the association between low BMD and ASCVD differs according to the age at ASCVD occurrence. We retrospectively analyzed 7932 women aged 50-65 years who underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. ASCVD was defined as a composite of ASCVD death, myocardial infarction, and ischemic stroke. When we classified participants into no event (n = 7803), early ASCVD (< 70 years) (n = 97), and late ASCVD (>= 70 years) (n = 32) groups, age gradually increased across groups (median, 58, 60, and 63 years, respectively). However, the estimated BMD T-score at the age of 65 years was lowest in the early ASCVD group (median - 0.9, - 1.1, and - 0.5, respectively). Lower BMD was an independent predictor for early ASCVD (adjusted hazard ratio [95% confidence interval]: 1.34 [1.08-1.67] per 1-SD decrease in T-score), but not for late ASCVD (0.88 [0.60-1.30]). The inverse trend between early ASCVD risk and BMD T-score was consistent regardless of the number of accompanied clinical risk factors. Thus, low BMD is an independent predictor for early ASCVD in women. BMD evaluation can provide prognostic benefit for risk stratification for early ASCVD.