• Posted March 30, 2026

Women's Bone Loss Tied To Heart Health, Study Finds

A woman’s heart health appears to be linked to her bone health, a new study says.

Women scoring high on a newly developed heart risk calculator have nearly twice the odds of suffering a broken hip, researchers reported March 27 in the journal The Lancet Regional Health-Americas.

“While previous studies have suggested a link between cardiovascular disease and fracture risk, we were surprised by the magnitude associated with hip fracture risk,” said lead investigator Rafeka Hossain, a researcher at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans.

“Both of these conditions are prevalent and costly, and reducing risk for both could improve the lives of older adults,” she said in a news release.

The new study centers on the PREVENT calculator, a heart risk assessment tool released by the American Heart Association in 2023. PREVENT estimates a person’s 10-year and 30-year risk for heart disease. 

Researchers ran data from more than 21,000 women participating in an ongoing health research study through the PREVENT calculator. The team then compared their heart risk scores against whether they’d suffered any broken bones.

Women in the highest heart risk group had a 93% increased risk of hip fracture, compared to those at lowest risk, the study found.

Likewise, women with moderate heart risk had a 33% higher risk of a broken hip.

Women in the high-risk group also tended to experience hip fractures sooner than those in the low-risk group — a median 15 years versus 20 years. (Median means half had broken hips sooner, half later.)

“Taking care of your heart and bones should go hand in hand,” Hossain said.

There are a number of biological processes that might link heart health to bone health, including chronic inflammation; changes in the way the body uses calcium; and reduced blood flow to bones caused by clogged arteries, researchers said.

Declining estrogen levels after menopause also might increase the risk of heart disease and bone loss at the same time, the team added.

“Many of the same factors that protect your heart —regular physical activity, a balanced diet rich in calcium and vitamin D, not smoking and managing conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure —also help protect your bones,” Hossain said.

“If you've been told you have intermediate or high cardiovascular risk, particularly if you are a postmenopausal woman, it may be worthwhile to talk to your doctor about bone health screening, given the many effective treatments available that reduce fracture risk,” she said.

However, the researchers cautioned that more study is needed before heart risk scores can be added to standard tools for assessing fracture risk.

More information

The American Heart Association has more about the PREVENT calculator.

SOURCE: Tulane University, news release, March 27, 2026