The Heart-Bone Connection: Relationships between Myocardial Infarction and Osteoporotic Fracture

Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2024 Feb 2. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00576.2023. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTMyocardial infarction (MI) and osteoporotic fracture (Fx) are two of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Although these traumatic injuries are treated as if they are independent, there is epidemiological evidence linking the incidence of Fx and MI, thus raising the question whether each of these events can actively influence the risk of the other. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis, the chronic conditions leading to MI and Fx, are known to have shared pathoetiology. Furthermore, sustained systemic inflammation after traumas such as MI and Fx has been shown to exacerbate both of these underlying chronic conditions. However, the systemic effects of MI and Fx outside their own system have not been well studied. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the complement system have been shown to initiate a systemic response after MI that could lead to subsequent changes in bone remodeling through osteoclasts. Similarly, SNS and complement system activation following fracture could lead to heart tissue damage and exacerbate atherosclerosis. To determine whether damaging bone-heart crosstalk may be an important co-morbidity following Fx or MI, this review details the current understanding of bone loss after MI, cardiovascular damage after Fx, and possible shared underlying mechanisms of these processes.PMID:38305753 | DOI:10.1152/ajphea...
Source: American Journal of Physiology. Heart and Circulatory Physiology - Category: Physiology Authors: Source Type: research