The Effects of Cardiovascular Drugs on Bone

textabstractIn this thesis,we examine various associations between three important cardiovascular drugs and bone. Fractureincidenceisthemostclinicallyrelevantfeatureofosteoporosis.Theriskto fractureaboneisdeterminedbyseveralfactors:Bonemineraldensity(BMD),micro-architecture of bone,bone structure and risk of falling.In this thesis we investigate the association between use of thiazides,ß-blockers and statins and fracture risk,but also the association between medication use and (change in) BMD and the association between medication use and hip bone structure to gain more insight in the causal chain of the as-sociation between use of medication and its effects on bone. We performed all our studies in the cohort of the Rotterdam Study.This is a prospec-tive,population-basedcohortstudyondeterminantsandoccurrenceofdiseasesin the elderly.The study started in 1990 and included 7983 persons of 55 years and older. Detailed data on many potential confounders was available and since all pharmacies in theresearchneighborhoodarecomputerizedandlinkedtoonenetwork,wehavede-tailed exposure data on drug use for all participants