[Prevalence of vertebral fractures in hip fracture patients]

Fractures are the clinical complication of osteoporosis. There are no previous studies that describe the prevalence of vertebral fractures (VF) in patients admitted into a hospital due to a hip fracture (HF).

To study the prevalence of vertebral fractures in elderly women in the moment of their admission to the hospital due to a hip fracture.

This is a cooperative, multicentric, case-control study, performed in 21 different hospitals of Spain by the Working Group on Osteoporosis of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine. A total of 143 elderly women with hip fractures comprised the case group. The control group consists of 138 elderly women admitted into other wards of the hospital due to other diseases with no relationship with osteoporosis. A questionnaire was administered and a lateral thoracic and lumbar X-ray was performed to assess vertebral fractures applying Genant's criteria.

The mean age of the patients with HF was 79.8 +/- 6.9 years and the mean age of the controls was 77.7 +/- 8.9 years. Patients suffering from HF had less weight than controls (BMI: 25.9 +/- 4.4 g/m2 vs 27.7 +/- 5.2 kg/m2, p = 0.002). Prevalence of VF was 62.6% in patients with HF, and 50% in controls (p = 0.039).

Elderly women admitted to a hospital due to hip fracture have a very high prevalence of previously undiagnosed VF. Indeed, elderly women admitted into the hospital because of other diseases also have a high prevalence of VF. These facts must be taken into account due to the morbidity and mortality of VF, that increases the HF morbidity and mortality.