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ArticleOsteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA2026

Validation of the AO Spine Osteoporotic Fracture Classification-effect of geographical region on reliability and reproducibility.

Sebastian Frederick Bigdon, Julian Scherer, Gaston Camino-Willhuber, Ulrich Spiegl, Andrei Fernandes Joaquim, Chhabra Harvinder Singh, Marcel Dvorak, Gregory Schroeder, Mohammad El-Sharkawi, Richard Bransford and 3 more

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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, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Sebastian Frederick BigdonDepartment for Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Sebastian.bigdon@insel.ch.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4649-0610
Julian SchererGeneral Medicine & Global Health (GMGH), Department of Medicine, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Health Sciences, Orthopaedic Research Unit (ORU), University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Gaston Camino-WillhuberPolicina Gipuzkoa, San Sebastian, Spain.
Ulrich SpieglKlinik Für Unfallchirurgie Und Orthopädie, Klinik München Harlaching, Sanatoriumspl. 2, Munich, 81545, Germany.
Andrei Fernandes JoaquimNeurosurgery Division, Department of Neurology, State University of Campinas, Campinas-Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Chhabra Harvinder SinghSri Balaji Action Medical Institute, New Delhi, India.
Marcel DvorakCombined Neurosurgical and Orthopedic Spine Program, Vancouver General Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Gregory SchroederDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Rothman Institute, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Mohammad El-SharkawiDepartment of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Asyut, Egypt.
Richard BransfordDepartment of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Lorin Michael BennekerDepartment for Spine Surgery, Sonnenhof Spital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Klaus John SchnakeCenter for Spinal and Scoliosis Surgery, Malteser Waldkrankenhaus St. Marien Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
AO Spine-DGOU international validation Group

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Regional differences affect the reliability of the AO Spine-DGOU Osteoporotic Fracture Classification. European participants showed the highest agreement. This study underscores the need for addressing regional factors to improve the system's global clinical utility. PURPOSE: To evaluate the influence of geographic region on the reliability and reproducibility of the AO Spine-DGOU Osteoporotic Fracture Classification System.

methodsThis study included 320 participants from various global regions who classified 27 cases of osteoporotic vertebral fractures using the AO Spine-DGOU system which categorizes the fractures to 5 subtypes (OF 1-OF 5). Participants underwent training via an online webinar. Interobserver reliability and intraobserver reproducibility were assessed using Fleiss' kappa coefficient, and agreement with a gold standard committee was evaluated.

resultsThe classification system showed moderate to substantial agreement with the gold standard globally (initial kappa 0.58, improving to 0.61). European participants had the highest agreement (kappa 0.64 and 0.66). OF4 fractures were most accurately classified, while OF3 fractures showed the least agreement. Intraobserver reliability was highest among European participants. Post hoc analysis indicated significantly better reliability among German-speaking participants compared to other Europeans (kappa 0.79 vs. 0.70, p = 0.0026).

conclusionThe AO Spine-DGOU Osteoporotic Fracture Classification System demonstrates moderate to substantial reliability and reproducibility, with regional differences influenced by factors such as training and clinical experience. This underlines the necessity of proper education adapted to the regional particularities.

Indexed as

fracture classificationosteoporosisspinal fracturevalidation study

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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.