Can high blood pressure lead to bone weakening?

There is a lot of evidence from both human and animal studies to show that high blood pressure leads to loss of calcium from the body, mainly as a result of increased amounts of calcium in the urine. Most of our calcium stores are in our bones, which leads to the question whether high blood pressure might contribute to the development of osteoporosis, a common cause of weak bones and fractures in older people, particularly women.

A study of elderly women in the USA had their blood pressures and a bone density test. After a period of three and a half years, another bone density test was taken and compared to the first measurement. Researchers found that the rate of bone loss for women with high blood pressure was much higher than in women with low blood pressure.

Osteoporosis is a major health problem for older people and accounts for more than a million bone fractures a year in the US. It affects women more than men, and whites more than blacks. Doctors speculate that the reason for this link between high blood pressure and bone loss is the loss of calcium in the urine, which is a direct consequence of high blood pressure. A high salt diet also leads to more calcium loss. However by treating high blood pressure with thiazide diuretics, which is commonly used to treat high blood pressure in the elderly, this reduces calcium loss, thus preventing osteoporosis as well.

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