[Evaluation of bone mass in hip fractures measuring lumbar spine and contralateral hip with bone densitometry]

Hip fracture is frequent in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. The aim of this work was to assess bone mass in women with hip fracture and compare it with that of normal women. Bone densities of lumbar spine (considering areas with and without spondylosis), femoral neck, greater trochanter, and unfractured hip Ward's triangle were measured with a double beam isotopic densitometer. Thirty-one women aged 58-95 years old were studied and compared with normal women studied at the same laboratory. Bone densities in fractured and normal women were 0.82 +/- 0.16 and 0.85 +/- 0.05 g/cm2 in lumbar spine respectively (NS), 0.74 +/- 0.15 and 0.85 +/- 0.05 g/cm2 in lumbar spine without spondylosis respectively (p < 0.001), 0.60 +/- 0.11 and 0.65 +/- 0.08 g/cm2 in femoral neck respectively (NS), 0.49 +/- 0.09 and 0.57 +/- 0.05 g/cm2 in greater trochanter respectively (p < 0.001) and 0.48 +/- 0.12 and 0.52 +/- 0.09 g/cm2 in Ward's triangle respectively (NS). It is concluded that the larger differences in bone density between women with and without hip fracture are observed in the greater trochanter.