Tuesday, December 1 | 10:50 a.m.-11:00 a.m. | SSG12-03 | Room E450B
A growing body of evidence is showing an association between osteopenia and osteoporosis and a higher incidence of obstructive coronary artery disease, a topic to be explored in this scientific session presentation."I wondered if there was [also] an association between osteoporosis and increasing coronary calcium," said presenter Dr. Declan Sheppard.
Osteoporosis and coronary artery disease are major causes of morbidity and mortality for patients and are a great expense to health systems around the world, he said. Low bone mass density and coronary artery disease also share many risk factors.
Sheppard and his team from Portiuncula and Roscommon County Hospitals in Ireland examined 163 consecutive patients who underwent coronary artery calcium (CAC) screening as well as bone mineral density (BMD) scans. CAC was scored using both Agatston and Mass scoring techniques.
Increasing CAC was significantly associated with decreasing BMD. There was also a significant correlation between the Agatston score and the bone mass of the rib, and between the coronary artery mass score and the rib. A subset of dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry patients also showed an association between CAC mass score and the lumbar spine BMD.
"We have shown a statistically significant relationship between decreasing bone mass density [osteoporosis] and increasing coronary calcium scores," Sheppard told AuntMinnie.com. "There is an indication for screening patients with osteoporosis for possible coronary artery disease."
Another presentation in the same session (SSG12-07) will describe a method that enables screening for osteoporosis as part of a CT coronary calcium study -- without the need for additional radiation, Sheppard said.
![Axial images from unenhanced calcium score cardiac CT (left) and curved planar reformation images from CT angiography (right) show that higher long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with greater coronary artery calcium and more obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Top row: Images in a 68-year-old male patient with higher 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (7.9 μg/m3 for particulate matter measuring ≤2.5 μm in diameter [PM2.5] and 17.4 parts per billion [ppb] for NO2) with extensive CAD (coronary artery calcium score [CACS] >1,000 and obstructive CAD [≥70% diameter stenosis]). Bottom row: Images in a 57-year-old female patient with lower 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (6.3 μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 4.6 ppb for NO2) with no CAD (CACS = 0 and no obstructive stenosis).](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/06/hanneman.r6SMLzkezo.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
