By David LIu, PHD

Sunday July 28, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Hip fracture patients more likely to suffer acute myocardial infarction

A person who experiences hip fracture is more likely to suffer acute myocardial infarction (hear attack) in the near future, according to a Taiwanese study released on July 26, 2012 in Journal of Bone and Mineral.

The study led by C.H. Chiang of Zhudong Veterans Hospital in HsinChu, Taiwan and colleagues found people who had hip fracture were 29 percent more likely to have acute myocardial infarction within 6 years.

The researchers intended to establish an association between hip fracture and acute myocardial infarction because osteoporotic fractures have been associated with increase risk of mortality whereas acute myocardial infarction is a major cause of death.

For the study, the researchers analysed data from 8,758 patients diagnosed with hip fracture from 2000 to 2009 and from 35032 controls from Longitudinal Health Insurance Database in Taiwan.  Controls were matched for age, gender, comorbid disorders, and enrollment date. All subjects were followed up from the date of enrollment to occurrence of acute myocardial infarction, death, or the end of data collection (2009).   During an average 3.2 year follow-up, 1183 cases of acute myocardial infarction were identified.

Incidence of acute myocardial infarction was 8.7 per 1000 person-years, compared to 6.82 per 1000 person-years.  Results from a multivariate analysis showed that hip fracture was correlated with 29 percent increased risk for the development of acute myocardial infarction.

It is not likely that hip fracture causes myocardial infarction and it is more likely that both hip fracture and myocardial infarction share some same risk factors.  Vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency has been linked in previous studies to both osteoporosis, which is one cause for hip fracture, and myocardial infarction.

Myocardial infarction commonly known as heart attack occurs when blood flow to a part of your heart is blocked for a long enough time that part of the heart muscle is damaged or dies.  When symptoms of myocardial infarction occurs, call 911 immediately because the event can be lethal, Mayo Clinic advises.  

Doctors do not know much about the causes, but it is believed there are many things everyone can do to reduce the risk for myocardial infarction.  Those who do not ever experience the event may want to take measures to protect the cardiovascular event from occurring in the first place.