EDITORIAL

Vertebral fractures

Clinical relevance of vertebral fractures

W F Lems

Vrije Universiteit Medical Centre; Slotervaart Hospital; Jan van Breemen Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr W F Lems
Department of Rheumatology 4A42, Vrije Universiteit Medical Centre, Postbox 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands; wf.lems@vumc.nl

Accepted 7 October 2006

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Why are vertebral fractures so often overlooked?

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The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Osteoporotic fractures occur quite frequently: the lifetime fracture risk for a 50-year-old woman is 40%.¹ Bone mineral density (BMD) is an important predictor of future fractures: the risk is increased twofold for each standard deviation (SD) decrease in BMD, whereas the correlation between low BMD and fractures is strongest for measurements at the same site as that of the fracture.² BMD is often measured for diagnosing osteoporosis (T score –2.5 SD, according to the World Health Organization criteria), although these criteria were developed for epidemiological studies. However, the two-dimensional dual-energy x ray absorptiometry images do not measure two other important properties of bone strength: the microarchitecture and its material composition.³

In a large meta-analysis, it has been shown that having a fracture is associated with an increased relative risk of subsequent fractures.⁴ In Maastricht, The Netherlands, a large study on 2419 patients aged 50 years was performed: the . . . [Full text of this article]

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