Hypertension Osteoporosis Osteopenia

Hypertension Osteoporosis Osteopenia. Who ever thought that high blood pressure could be a cause of Osteoporosis or Osteopenia?

I do not know about you but none of my doctors, not even my cardiologist, ever talked about Hypertension being a cause of Osteoporosis or Osteopenia. the National Institute of Health has a study about this on their PubMed web site that publishes scientific studies from around the world. 

The study is called, "Hypertension is associated with osteoporosis: a case-controled study in Chinese postmenopausal women" by Hao Chai, Jirong Ge, Li Li, Jianyang Li & Yunjin Ye, The study was published in BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2021; 22: 253

If you wish to read the whole study, you can do so by clicking this link: Hypertensions, Osteoporosis Osteopenia

Reading this study got me thinking.   Had anyone else ever made a connection between high blood pressure and Osteoporosis? After a bit more research I learned that it turns out that some others did.

As early as 2013 study by Japanese researchers found such a connection and published an article, "Hypertension and Osteoporosis" in the journal, Clinical Calcium 2013 Apr;23(4):497-503.

Here is the abstract of this article:

"The number of patients with high blood pressure and osteoporosis are increased year by year in our  society. In hypertension patients, excess urinary   calcium secretion induces secondary parathyroidism  to increase serum calcium level by calcium release from bone, which may accelerate osteoporosis. In this aspect, there are several reports that anti-hypertensive drugs, especially thiazides, increase bone mineral density and decrease the incidence of bone fracture.

 In addition, we demonstrated that renin-angiotensin system can be involved in the process of osteoporosis. Angiotensin II  significantly induced the expression of RANKL  (receptor activator of NF-κB ligand) in osteoblasts, leading to the activation of osteoclasts, while these effects were completely  blocked by an Ang II type 1 receptor blockade. 

Recently, it has been reported that angiotensin  receptor blockade clinically decreased the incidence of bone fracture. Renin-angiotensin  system might be common molecule to regulate both hypertension and osteoporosis. "

Note: There are other articles but I do not cite them here. If you do a web search on PubMed you will find them.....or you could just use this link:  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23545739/

Why post this information?

 There are many people diagnosed with hypertension (high blood pressure) and as far as I know, there are few cardiologists who warn their hypertensive clients/patients that they have a condition that causes bone loss.

Few seem to recommend that their patients be screened for Osteoporosis or Osteopenia in connection with a diagnosis of hypertension

If you have high blood pressure (hypertension) you might want to ask your physician for a bone density measurement test.  And if s/he does not comply, you might want to print out this page and bring it to your physician.and you can tell your doctor that the National Institute of Health's PubMed site has a number of studies showing a Hypertension Osteoporosis Osteopenia connection

 You might even want to give your doctor the link to at least one those studies:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7938480/