Vertebral Morphometric X-Ray Absorptiometry in Women With Colles' Fracture

Abstract Colles' fracture (CF) in younger postmenopausal women is associated with low bone mineral density (BMD) and with an increased risk of other osteoporotic fractures; however, the prevalence of vertebral deformities has been not studied in CF patients. Vertebral morphometry (MXA) using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is a research tool developed to evaluate the presence of vertebral deformities, but its clinical use is still limited. The goals of this work were to know the prevalence of vertebral deformities in women with CF, to study the morphometric characteristics of height ratios, and to determine the correlation between MXA findings and BMD. MXA was evaluated within an incident case-control study in which 58 women with a recent CF and 83 population-based control women were enrolled. Anterior (Ha), middle (Hm), and posterior (Hp) heights were measured, and wedge (Ha/Hp) and mid-wedge (Hm/Hp) ratios were calculated. A vertebral deformity was defined when at least one ratio fell 3 SD below the reference mean of that ratio at any vertebral level. The mean age of cases was 65.8 yr and in controls 58.7 ( p p