Comparative analysis of spontaneous and traumatic osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures [Spontan ve travmatik osteoporotik vertebral kompresyon kırıklarının karşılaştırmalı analizi]

Objective: osteoporosis results in increased bone fragility,which predisposes patients to fractures with relatively little trauma. osteoporotic fractures most often occur in the spine. although most vertebral compression fractures (vcfs) occur as a result of trauma,they can also occur spontaneously. in this study,we aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics of spontaneous and traumatic osteoporotic vcfs.methods: in this retrospective study,199 patients treated for osteoporotic vcfs at our institution between january 2011 and december 2013 were analyzed. we investigated the differences in clinical characteristics between spontaneous and traumatic osteoporotic vcfs.results: spontaneous fractures accounted for 37.2% of the total osteoporotic vcfs. the traumatic fracture group exhibited significantly higher mean bone mineral density (bmd) tscores than the spontaneous fracture group (p=0.000). a surgical history of percutaneous vertebroplasty/kyphoplasty (vp/kp) (p=0.000) and a medical history of rheumatoid disease (p=0.004) were significantly more frequent in the spontaneous group than in the traumatic group. the 2 groups did not differ in terms of distribution of age,sex,smoking status,weight,single versus multiple-level fracture,surgical history of spinal fusion or fixation,or medical history of hypertension,diabetes,heart disease,and cerebrovascular accidents.conclusion: it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions about the differences in clinical characteristics between spontaneous and traumatic osteoporotic vcfs with this limited retrospective study. however,our results showed that low bmd t-scores,a surgical history of percutaneous vp/kp,and a medical history of rheumatoid disease might be responsible for spontaneous osteoporotic vcfs. © 2014,ege university press. all rights reserved.