Low Bone Mineral Density and Its Related Factors in Adults with Congenital Heart Disease in Vietnam: A Cross-sectional Study

Background And Aims: Recent studies have highlighted the increased risk of low bone mineral density (BMD) in adults with cardiovascular disease. However, little is known about BMD in adults with congenital heart disease (CHD), particularly in developing countries. We hypothesized that factors related to BMD would lead to a high prevalence of low BMD in adults with CHD. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of low BMD and its related factors in Vietnamese adults with CHD.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 73 adults diagnosed with CHD in Vietnam. Low BMD was classified based on their site-specific -scores and -scores at the posteroanterior lumbar spine and left proximal femur. Logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate factors related to low BMD.

Results: Low BMD was confirmed in one-third of the adults with CHD. There were trends of more bone loss in certain parts of the body than in others, with the prevalence of low BMD at the sites of the lumbar vertebrae (L1‒L4) and left proximal femur (femoral neck, trochanteric femur, and intertrochanteric area) of 43.9%, 31.8%, 28.8%, 33.3%, 8.8%, 1.5%, and 6.1%, respectively. The prevalence of low BMD in the lumbar spine was significantly higher than that in the left proximal femur (34.3% vs. 2.9%,  < 0.001). Moreover, the prevalence of low BMD was significantly higher in adults with CHD than in those without polycythemia and vitamin D deficiency (55.6% vs. 20.9%,  = 0.001 and 46.2% vs. 19.4%,  = 0.002, respectively). A stratified multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that low BMD was associated with polycythemia (odds ratio: 4.72; 95% confidence interval: 1.64-13.58,  = 0.004).

Conclusions: Low BMD is common among adults with CHD in Vietnam and related to polycythemia.