Table 1.

Characteristics of the eligible studies

References	Year	Country	Design	Patients (CHF/controls), n	Study period	Inclusion criteria	BMD instrument	Bone measurement
25	2009	Egypt	Case–control study	137 (83/54)	Not reported	An EF <40%.	DEXA scan	Femoral BMD and lumbar spine BMD
20	2010	Serbia	Case–control study	93 (73/20)	Not reported	Duration of CHF for longer than 1 year; left ventricular ejection fraction 40%; unchanged medication regimen within the previous 6 weeks; clinically stable condition with no clinical evidence of decompensate heart failure.	DEXA scan	Total BMD and lumbar spine BMD
11	2009	Poland	Cohort study	208 (187/21)	October 2000 to September 2004	A ≥6 month history of CHF; an LV EF <45%; clinical stability and unchanged medications for at least 1 month.	DEXA scan	Total BMD, leg BMD, arms BMD, and trunk BMD
22	2014	China	Cohort study	80 (40/40)	January 2012 to December 2012	Inclusion by CHF criteria.	DEXA scan	Femoral BMD and lumbar spine BMD
23	2012	Greece	Cohort study	73 (60/13)	August 2007 to August 2009	A ≥6 month history of CHF; an LV EF, 40%; a stable clinical status and medication regimen for ≥1 month preceding enrollment.	DEXA scan	Femoral BMD and total body BMD
24	2016	China	Cohort study	214 (109/95)	August 2014 to May 2015	A ≥6 month history of CHF.	DEXA scan	Trunk BMD and Femoral BMD

Abbreviations: BMD, bone mineral density; CHF, chronic heart failure; DEXA, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; LV, left ventricular; EF, ejection fraction.