ArticleOsteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA2016
Using self-reports of pain and other variables to distinguish between older women with back pain due to vertebral fractures and those with back pain due to degenerative changes.
Article in Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Osteoporotic Fractures of the Thoracic and Lumbar Vertebrae: Diagnosis and Conservative Treatment.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2021Pooled it
- Management of older adults consulting in GP surgery practices with back pain in UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum: population based study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Article
- Pain after osteoporotic fractures using mouse models and patient samples.Journal of bone and mineral metabolism · 2026Article
- Diagnostic prediction models for spinal fractures in individuals with spinal pain or trauma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- A novel nomogram for predicting osteoporosis with low back pain among the patients in Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of China.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Article
- Applicability of Vfrac in men: a qualitative study of an osteoporotic vertebral fracture screening tool for use in older people with back pain.Archives of osteoporosis · 2024Article
- An online clinical decision tool to screen for vertebral fragility fractures (Vfrac) in older women presenting with back pain in general practice: protocol for a feasibility study in preparation for a future cluster randomised controlled trial.Archives of osteoporosis · 2024Article
- Osteoporosis in 2022: Care gaps to screening and personalised medicine.Best practice & research. Clinical rheumatology · 2022Review
- Pharmacological options for pain control in patients with vertebral fragility fractures.Osteoporosis and sarcopenia · 2022Review
- A clinical tool to identify older women with back pain at high risk of osteoporotic vertebral fractures (Vfrac): a population-based cohort study with exploratory economic evaluation.Age and ageing · 2022Article
- Self-perceived functional ability and performance-based testing of physical function in older women with or without long-term back pain - results of the H70 study.BMC geriatrics · 2021Article
- Effectiveness of Rehabilitative Intervention on Pain, Postural Balance, and Quality of Life in Women with Multiple Vertebral Fragility Fractures: A Prospective Cohort Study.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2021Article
- Comparison of the Characteristics of Back Pain in Women with Postmenopausal Osteoporosis with and without Vertebral Compression Fracture: A Retrospective Study at a Single Osteoporosis Center in Poland.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2021Article
- General and Specific Considerations as to why Osteoporosis-Related Care Is Often Suboptimal.Current osteoporosis reports · 2020Review
- State of the art in osteoporosis risk assessment and treatment.Journal of endocrinological investigation · 2019Review
- An observational cohort study to produce and evaluate an improved tool to screen older women with back pain for osteoporotic vertebral fractures (Vfrac): study protocol.Archives of osteoporosis · 2019Article
- Impact of mild and moderate/severe vertebral fractures on physical activity: a prospective study of older women in the UK.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2019Article
- A modification and validation of quantitative morphometry classification system for osteoporotic vertebral compressive fractures in mainland Chinese.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2018Article
- Vertebral Fracture Identification as Part of a Comprehensive Risk Assessment in Patients with Osteoporosis.Current osteoporosis reports · 2018Review
- The impact of fragility fracture and approaches to osteoporosis risk assessment worldwide.Bone · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
unlabelledWomen with back pain and vertebral fractures describe different pain experiences than women without vertebral fractures, particularly a shorter duration of back pain, crushing pain and pain that improves on lying down. This suggests a questionnaire could be developed to identify older women who may have osteoporotic vertebral fractures.
introductionApproximately 12 % of postmenopausal women have vertebral fractures (VFs), but less than a third come to clinical attention. Distinguishing back pain likely to relate to VF from other types of back pain may ensure appropriate diagnostic radiographs, leading to treatment initiation. This study investigated whether characteristics of back pain in women with VF are different from those in women with no VFs.
methodsA case control study was undertaken with women aged ≥60 years who had undergone thoracic spinal radiograph in the previous 3 months. Cases were defined as those with VFs identified using the algorithm-based qualitative (ABQ) method. Six hundred eighty-three potential participants were approached. Data were collected by self-completed questionnaire including the McGill Pain Questionnaire. Chi-squared tests assessed univariable associations; logistic regression identified independent predictors of VFs. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the ability of the combined independent predictors to differentiate between women with and without VFs via area under the curve (AUC) statistics.
resultsOne hundred ninety-seven women participated: 64 cases and 133 controls. Radiographs of controls were more likely to show moderate/severe degenerative change than cases (54.1 vs 29.7 %, P = 0.011). Independent predictors of VF were older age, history of previous fracture, shorter duration of back pain, pain described as crushing, pain improving on lying down and pain not spreading down the legs. AUC for combination of these factors was 0.85 (95 % CI 0.79 to 0.92).
conclusionWe present the first evidence that back pain experienced by women with osteoporotic VF is different to back pain related solely to degenerative change.
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