Clinical studyClinical Course of Pain in Acute Osteoporotic Vertebral Compression Fractures
Section snippets
Patients
Patients were recruited in two large teaching hospitals (St. Elisabeth Hospital Tilburg and Diakonessenhuis Utrecht) in the Netherlands between December 2004 and September 2005. Patients aged ≥ 50 years and referred by the general practitioner for a thoracic or lumbar spine radiograph were asked to participate in this study. They received a clinical questionnaire at baseline. Patients with a radiographically diagnosed VCF and back pain for 2 weeks or less were included after written informed
Results
Of the 58 patients that were screened between December 2004 and September 2005, 51 met the inclusion criteria, and two declined participation. The remaining 49 patients were included in the study (Fig 1). Baseline characteristics of the enrolled patients are summarized in Table 1.
Discussion
The largest decrease in pain scores occurred within the first 6 months. After 6 months no significant decrease in pain scores was noted. A high VAS at 6 months predicted a high VAS at 23 months. In our study, 37% of the patients had no significant pain relief at 6 months.
The tendency of an osteoporotic VCF to heal within 6 months was also described in another study (10, 11). In this study, all patients presenting in the emergency department or admitted as inpatients with an acute osteoporotic
References (18)
- et al.
Epidemiology and outcomes of osteoporotic fractures
Lancet
(2002) - et al.
Randomised trial of effect of alendronate on risk of fracture in women with existing vertebral fracturesFracture Intervention Trial Research Group
Lancet
(1996) Measurement of pain
Lancet
(1974)- et al.
The risk of new osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures in the year after percutaneous vertebroplasty
J Vasc Interv Radiol
(2006) - et al.
Prevalence and incidence of vertebral deformities
Osteoporos Int
(1993) - et al.
Long-term morbidity and mortality after a clinically diagnosed vertebral fracture in the elderly—a 12- and 22-year follow-up of 257 patients
Calcif Tissue Int
(2005) - et al.
The association of radiographically detected vertebral fractures with back pain and function: a prospective study
Ann Intern Med
(1998) - et al.
Percutaneous vertebroplasty compared with optimal pain medication treatment: short-term clinical outcome of patients with subacute or chronic painful osteoporotic vertebral compression fracturesThe VERTOS study
AJNR Am J Neuroradiol
(2007) - et al.
Vertebral fracture assessment using a semiquantitative technique
J Bone Miner Res
(1993)
Cited by (0)
None of the authors have identified a conflict of interest.