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Undiagnosed vertebral fractures may cause back pain, limit activity in older men
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Older men with incident radiographic-only vertebral fractures have more back pain — and may limit their usual physical activities as a result — compared with men without vertebral fractures, study data show.
Howard A. Fink, MD, MPH, of the geriatric research education and clinical center at the Veterans Affairs Health Center in Minneapolis, and colleagues evaluated data from the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study on 4,396 men aged at least 65 years to determine the effect of clinically unrecognized radiographic vertebral fractures on back pain symptoms and associated disability.
At baseline and at a mean of 4.6 years after baseline (second visit), researchers performed lumbar and thoracic spine radiographs on participants, and participants completed a self-reported back pain symptom questionnaire.
Nearly 4% (n = 169) of participants had an incident radiographic-only vertebral fracture, and 0.6% (n = 28) had an incident radiographic plus clinical vertebral fracture between baseline and the second visit.
Participants with a radiographic-only fracture were more likely than participants with no vertebral fracture to report any back pain (70% vs. 59%) and severe back pain (8% vs. 4%), to say they were bothered most or all the time by back pain (22% vs. 13%) and to acknowledge limiting usual activities due to back pain (34% vs. 18%) at the second visit.
Participants with an incident radiographic plus clinical vertebral fracture were also more likely than those with no vertebral fracture to report any back pain (93% vs. 59%) and severe back pain, (18% vs. 4%), to say they were bothered most of all the time by back pain (50% vs. 13%) and to acknowledge limiting usual activities due to back pain (64% vs. 18%) at the second visit in the multivariable-adjusted analyses.
“Preventing these fractures may reduce back pain and related disability in older men,” the researchers wrote. “Randomized trials to prevent such fractures will provide the strongest evidence about the effect of interventions on back pain and related disability in older adults.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosures: Fink reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the study for all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.
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