Is there a correlation between osteoporosis and calcification of the abdominal aorta? A ten-year follow-up study on a random sample of the Jewish population of Jerusalem

Eight hundred thirty subjects randomly selected from the Jewish population of Jerusalem were examined for the presence of both osteoporosis (OP) and calcification of the abdominal aorta (CAA) as seen in anterior and lateral x-rays of the lumbar spine. The subjects were chosen randomly from the electoral roll and were then followed up for a period of seven to ten years and were again x-rayed and examined. OP and CAA have different epidemiological characteristics as related to age, sex and ethnic origin. Osteoporosis develops relatively early and increases gradually at a constant rate through the years. It is much more common in women, especially of Eastern origin. In the Eastern women the initial examination showed a prevalence of 15.7% for OP which increased during the 7 to 10 year follow-up period to 32.8%, while in women of Western origin, it increased from 9.2% to 20.9%. We found that CAA increases by five times after a period of ten years in women aged 55 to 64 from 4.9% to 23.7% in the Western population, and from 3.8% to 15.8% in the Eastern population. The prevalence of CAA is similar in men (15.6%) and women (20.7%) and it has a slight but not significant predominance in people of Western origin, 4.9% in the Western population as opposed to 3.8% in the Eastern population for the younger age group, and 23.7% in the Western population and 15.8% in the Eastern population for the older age group. We observed that no correlation could be found between OP and CAA.