Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35254231›Full record

ArticleThe journal of spinal cord medicine2023

"Pathological" fractures in spinal cord injuries and disorders: Insight into International classification of diseases, ninth revision coding.

Rachel Elam, James Doan, Frances Weaver, Cara Ray, Scott Miskevics, Beverly Gonzalez, William Obremskey, Laura Carbone

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The journal of spinal cord medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
0.2field-weighted citation impact, top 50% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed, 1 citations in OpenAlex.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.

Rachel ElamCharlie Norwood Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Augusta, Georgia, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9927-6063
James DoanHarvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Frances WeaverCenter of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare (CINCCH), Health Services Research & Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, Hines VA Hospital, Hines, Illinois, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6756-9942
Cara RayCenter of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare (CINCCH), Health Services Research & Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, Hines VA Hospital, Hines, Illinois, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1383-8801
Scott MiskevicsCenter of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare (CINCCH), Health Services Research & Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, Hines VA Hospital, Hines, Illinois, USA.
Beverly GonzalezCenter of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare (CINCCH), Health Services Research & Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, Hines VA Hospital, Hines, Illinois, USA.
William ObremskeyDivision of Orthopaedic Trauma, Vanderbilt Orthopaedic Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Laura CarboneCharlie Norwood Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Augusta, Georgia, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-3370-4680
Augusta University · USEdward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital · USHarvard University · USLoyola University Chicago · USNorthwestern University · USVanderbilt University Medical Center · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveAnalyses of osteoporosis-related fractures in persons with Spinal Cord Injury or Disorder (SCID) using administrative data often exclude pathological fractures (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes 733.1x). We examined how often lower extremity "pathological" fractures were secondary to osteoporosis.

designRetrospective case-control study, fiscal years 2005-2015.

settingVeterans Health Administration.

participantsVeterans with SCID and an ICD-9 code for lower extremity fracture. OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical and SCID-related characteristics were compared in pathological and non-pathological fractures. A subset of Veterans with lower extremity fracture had data on fracture etiology from prior electronic health record (eHR) review. Of these, all with eHR-confirmed pathological fractures were considered cases. For each case, four unmatched controls with non-pathological fractures from this subset were randomly selected. Fracture etiology was compared between subsample cases and controls. We sought expert opinion from specialists who care for these fractures to understand their perspectives on what constitutes a pathological fracture and narrate our findings.

results6,397 Veterans sustained 16,279 lower extremity fractures, including 314 (1.93%) pathological fractures in 264 Veterans. Ten of 13 (76.9%) cases of pathological fracture (76.9%) and 82.4% of non-pathological fractures were secondary to osteoporosis. Of the 19 experts surveyed, only two coded osteoporotic fractures as pathological.

conclusionMost pathological lower extremity fractures by ICD-9 codes in SCID are secondary to osteoporosis. Pathological fractures can be considered for inclusion in epidemiologic studies of osteoporosis in SCID when the risk-benefit profile for the study favors capturing all osteoporotic fractures at the expense of some misclassification.

Indexed as

OsteoporosisOsteoporotic FracturesSpinal Cord DiseasesSpinal Cord InjuriesCase-Control StudiesHumansInternational Classification of DiseasesRetrospective StudiesEpidemiologyICD-9 codesPathological fracturesSpinal cord injuryVeterans

Identifiers

PMID35254231
PMCPMC9987728
OpenAlexW4220965895

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.