February is American Heart Month so it's a good time to look through the causes, prevention and cure for those of us with coronary artery disease and osteoporosis.  If we can further understand these two diseases, and their connection to one another, maybe we can prevent one or both of these conditions.

For years we've heard about the connection between bone loss - osteopenia and osteoporosis - and coronary artery disease.  Maybe you know someone with both of these disorders and wondered what caused them and if both disease states have something in common to produce these two disorders in one individual.  To further understand this, we've broken down the risk factors for each and start with an explanation of what these disorders mean for our health.

First let's look at the definition of coronary artery disease.  According to the National Institute of Health, Coronary artery disease (CAD), also called coronary heart disease, is a condition in which plaque builds up inside the coronary arteries. These arteries supply your heart muscle with oxygen-rich blood.

Plaque is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances found in the blood. When plaque builds up in the arteries, the condition is called atherosclerosis.

Plaque narrows the arteries and reduces blood flow to your heart muscle. It also makes it more likely that blood clots will form in your arteries. Blood clots can partially or completely block blood flow.

When your coronary arteries are narrowed or blocked, oxygen-rich blood can't reach your heart muscle. This can cause angina or a heart attack (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and National Institute of Health 2010).

Image of coronary artery disease

There are risk factors that are prevalent in coronary artery disease.  The risk factors are broken into modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors.  By discussing these we'll understand the connection between these two medical disorders and what they have in common.

Non-Modifiable Risk Factors:

• Family history
• Male and Female sex
• Advancing age

Modifiable Risk Factors:

Merging Blood Level Factors: