[Backache and osteoporosis in perimenopausal women]

Osteoporosis is thought to represent one of the main causes of back pain in perimenopausal women. One hundred perimenopausal women (45 to 60 years) who were consecutively admitted in order to clarify the cause of their back pain were examined. In 20% disc degenerations were found. Other degenerative disorders (osteoarthritis) of the spine without coincident scoliosis were found to be the second most common cause of pain in 19%. Scoliosis due to different leg length was detected in 15%, idiopathic scoliosis in 13%. Spondylolisthesis occurred in 7% even more frequently than osteoporosis with vertebral deformities in 6%. Non-osteoporotic vertebral deformities were seen as often as osteoporotic ones. Rare diagnoses among others were seronegative spondyloarthropathy and fibrositis. Our results indicate that back pain in women up to 60 years is mostly due to degenerative disorders of the spine. Osteoporosis with vertebral deformities as cause of pain is quite rare. Comparing bone mineral density of the distal forearm (SPA) of the patients with back pain not due to manifest osteoporosis (98 +/- 15% of age related mean) with those of 50 asymptomatic women (96 +/- 14%) and 50 female patients with pain in other regions of the skeleton (103 +/- 17%) in the same age group, there was no evidence for any relation between low bone mineral density and skeletal pain.