Abdominal aortic calcification and the risk of bone fractures: a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies

The relationship between abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) and bone fracture has been examined by some observational studies, but the results remain discordant. Therefore, we aimed to assess the link between them by conducting a meta-analysis of prospective studies. Relevant studies were identified by searching PubMed and EMBASE databases until the end of December 2016. Summary relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between AAC and fracture risk were estimated with fixed- or random- effects models. Seven prospective studies were included in the final analysis. The summarized RRs of any type of fractures for the highest compared with the lowest category of AAC were 1.64 (95% CI 1.30–2.07, P = 0.000) with mild heterogeneity (I 2 = 30.1%, P = 0.188). Subgroup analysis showed that the association between AAC and fracture was not significantly modified by gender and follow-up length. Risks were similar when analyses were restricted to the studies with adjustment for bone mineral density (BMD) (RR = 1.76, 95% CI 1.31–2.38, P = 0.000, I 2 = 49.1%). For the specific type of fracture, severe AAC was significantly related with hip fracture (RR = 1.64, 95% CI 1.22–2.20, P = 0.001, n = 5), but not with vertebral (RR = 1.45, 95% CI 0.81–2.58, P = 0.213, n = 3) or non-vertebral fracture (RR = 1.35, 95% CI 0.96–1.88, P = 0.081, n = 3). There was no evidence of publication bias. Our findings demonstrated that AAC was significantly and independently associated with a higher fracture risk, especially for hip fracture.