whim-mckinney.org

High blood pressure may cause loss of calcium in the urine, which over time could lead to a loss of bone mineral density in elderly women, according to a study presented recently at the American Heart Association annual meeting.

In the study of more than 3,700 women aged 66 to 91, blood pressure at the beginning of the 3- to 4-year study was linked to bone loss over time.

“The higher the blood pressure, the greater the loss,” said study author Doctor, of St. George’s Hospital Medical School, London, UK. Even after taking into account other factors that affect bone density, such as age, smoking status, weight change and hormone replacement therapy status, “we still found an independent effect,” he said in an interview with Reuters Health. Cappuccio and colleagues measured height, weight, blood pressure and the women’s bone mineral density in the femoral neck, a part of the thighbone.

Hypertension is associated with high calcium excretion by the kidneys, the author noted. However, when it comes to preventing bone loss, limiting salt in the diet may be more important than focusing on blood pressure, according to Cappuccio.

“Controlling blood pressure directly we don’t think is the solution,” Cappuccio said. “We think it is calcium loss, which can be prevented through sodium restriction.” His team has designed a study to test that hypothesis.

“We propose that restricting sodium in the diet will decrease calcium loss, particularly in the elderly, which would prevent calcium loss in bone,” he said.

In the US, there are 1.5 million hip fractures per year at a cost of $10 billion, Cappuccio noted. In the UK, there are more than 100,000 hip fractures annually at a cost of more than 600 million pounds.