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Low clinical relevance of a prevalent vertebral fracture in elderly men - the MrOs Sweden study
Kherad, Mehrsa Rosengren, Björn E. Hasserius, Ralph Nilsson, Jan-Åke Redlund-Johnell, Inga Ohlsson, Claes Lorentzon, Mattias Mellström, Dan Karlsson, Magnus K.
Kherad, Mehrsa
Rosengren, Björn E.
Hasserius, Ralph
Nilsson, Jan-Åke
Redlund-Johnell, Inga
Ohlsson, Claes
Lorentzon, Mattias
Mellström, Dan
Karlsson, Magnus K.
Abstract
Background context: The epidemiology, the fracture pattern, and the clinical relevance of prevalent vertebral fractures in old men are debated wherefore we set out to clarify these issues. Methods: Mister Osteoporosis (MrOs) Sweden is a population-based cohort of community-living men aged 69–81 years that includes 3,014 men. Out of these, 1,453 men underwent a lateral radiograph of the thoracic and lumbar spine of which 1,427 were readable and classified by a radiologist, that is the sample size in this study. The men also answered a questionnaire evaluating back pain and limitation in activities of daily living (ADLs) because of back pain during the preceding 12 months in addition with fracture history and life style. Results: Fifteen percentage of the men had at least one prevalent vertebral fracture, but only 1/10th of these were aware of their fracture. Among the men with a fracture, 58% had one, 21% two, 9% three, and 11% four or more fractures. In men with only one fracture, 70% of the fractures were located in the thoracic and 30% in the lumbar spine, 85% had a wedge, 13% a biconcave, and 2% a crush-type configuration; one-quarter had a maximum vertebral body compression degree of less than 24% and one-quarter of more than 38%. Among the men with one or several vertebral fracture, 57% reported back pain compared with 55% in those without a fracture (p=.53). Most ADL functions were similar in the men with or without a prevalent vertebral fracture. In the men with one fracture, there was no difference in the occurrence of back pain depending on the fractured region (p=.49), type of the fracture (p=.77), or degree of compression (p=.85). In men with one or several fractures, there were no significant differences in the presence of back pain in any ages (p=.08), nor there were differences in presence of back pain regarding type (p=.08) or number of fractures (p=.21). Conclusions: A prevalent vertebral fracture is common in old men but has low clinical relevance. There does not seem to be a specific fracture pattern that predisposes for back pain.
Keywords
vertebral fracture, vertebrae, back pain, old men, population-based cross-sectional study, MrOSstudy
Date
2015
Type
Journal article
Journal
The Spine Journal
Book
Volume
15
Issue
2
Page Range
281-289
Article Number
ACU Department
Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled