Factors Affecting Vertebral Fragility Fracture Risk Are Identified

Age, gender, and bone mineral density (BMD) are all significant risk factors that impact vertebral fragility fracture risk among middle-aged and older individuals, according to new data.

These conclusions arise after researchers performed a retrospective study of data from 2216 patients aged 50 years or older presenting to a single center in Korea. All patients included in the final analysis had presented with a vertebral fracture and were conservatively treated between 2005 and 2016.

For the analysis, participants were categorized in “fragility” or “nonfragility” groups and age subgroups.

The fragility group had a higher ratio of women, were older in age, had a lower body mass index, had lower BMD, and had a greater incidence of previous vertebral fractures compared with the nonfragility group.

Results showed that the proportion of vertebral fragility fractures increased with age—41.2% among participants aged 50 to 59 years with normal BMD vs 67.8% among participants aged 60 to 69 years with normal BMD.

Participants with osteopenia were 1.57-fold more likely to experience vertebral fragility fractures than participants with normal BMD. Moreover, those with osteoporosis were 2.62-fold more likely to experience vertebral fragility fractures than participants with normal BMD.

For participants aged younger than 70 years, the risk factors for vertebral fragility fractures included age, being a woman, having lower BMD values, and having a history of vertebral fracture. For those aged 70 years or older, the risk factors included age, being a woman, and having lower BMD values.

“Considerable [vertebral fragility fractures] occurred in the younger age groups without osteoporosis and age itself was another important predictor of [vertebral fragility fracture,] especially in older age groups,” the researchers concluded. “The discrepancy between the incidence of [vertebral fragility fracture] and BMD suggests the necessity of supplemental screening factors and anti-osteoporosis treatment guidelines using only BMD should be reconsidered.”

—Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Lee J, Chang G, Kang H, et al. Impact of bone mineral density on the incidence of age-related vertebral fragility fracture. J Korean Med Sci. 2020;35(17):e116. https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e116