Background:Osteoporosis is known to be a risk factor for fragility fractures [4, 5]. On one hand, vertebral body fragility fractures often lead to additional spine deformity [2]. On the other hand, it was found that with the progression of the spinal curvature in osteoporotic patients, the fragility fractures develop more frequently. The increased incidence of these fractures could be explained with a predominance of the mechanical forces on the one side of the already weakened osteoporotic vertebrae [3].Objectives:The aim of this study is to compare the fracture risk (FRAX) for major osteoporotic fractures (MOF) and for hip fractures (HF) in women with and without scoliosis through dual-energy X-ray absorptiomentry (DXA)Methods:In the current study, 59 women underwent DXA scans. Scoliosis was defined as Cobb’s angle ≥ 5◦ according to the Chaklin’s classification [6, 7]. Cobb’s angle was measured from DXA images with DICOM software. We evaluated the following risk factors: previous fractures, parental hip fractures, secondary osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, use of corticosteroids, current smoking and alcohol consumption more than 3 units daily. We estimated FRAX MOF and FRAX HF on the basis of these risk factors and on the basis of the femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD). The calculations were done through FRAX tool published on the website of the University of Sheffield [1].Results:The mean age of the women was 63 years (yrs.) ± 10 yrs. (range 43 yrs. – 89 yrs.). Subjects with scoliosis were significantly older (67 yrs.) than those without scoliosis (59 yrs.), (p = 0.004). Mean weight and height didn’t differ between the groups with- and without scoliosis. Mean lumbar spine BMD and T-score differed significantly between the groups, (p = 0.02). Women with scoliosis had lower mean BMD (0.786 g/cm2) and lower mean T-score (-2.1 standard deviations (SDs)) compared to those without scoliosis (mean BMD: 0.912 g/cm2 and mean T-score: 0.9 SDs). The mean FRAX MOF (19.3%) and FRAX HF (5.9%) of the subjects with scoliosis were significantly higher than those of the women without scoliosis (FRAX MOF: 14.9% and FRAX HF: 3.1%), (p = 0.004 for FRAX MOF and p = 0.010 for FRAX HF).Conclusion:Women with scoliosis showed significantly higher fracture risk for major osteoporotic fractures and for hip fractures compared to those without scoliosis.References:[1]https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/FRAX/index.aspx[2]Mao YF, Zhang Y, Li K, et al. Discrimination of vertebral fragility fracture with lumbar spine bone mineral density measured by quantitative computed tomography. J Orthop Translat. 2018;16:33–39. Published 2018 Oct 10. doi:10.1016/j.jot.2018.08.007.[3]Sabo A, Hatgis J, Granville M, Jacobson RE. Multilevel Contiguous Osteoporotic Lumbar Compression Fractures: The Relationship of Scoliosis to the Development of Cascading Fractures. Cureus. 2017;9(12):e1962. Published 2017 Dec 19. doi:10.7759/cureus.1962.[4]Kirilova E, Cherkezov D, Gonchev B, Zheleva Z. OSIRIS Index for the assessment of the risk for osteoporosis in menopausal women, National conference with international participation, 6-7 october 2019, Kardzhali “Science and society 2019”, RKR print OOD ISSN 1314-3425[5]Madzharova R, Kirilova E, Petranova T, Nikolova M. Assessment of the activity for self care in women with osteoporosis, Science and TechnologieVolume VIII, 2018, Number 1: MEDICAL BIOLOGY STUDIES, CLINICAL STUDIES, SOCIAL MEDICINE AND HEALTH CARE,1-6.[6]Chaklin VD, Orthopedy - Moscow: Medgiz – 1965 – C. 209[7]Chaklin VD. Pathology, clinical manifestation and treatment of the scoliosis, 1stcongress of the union of the orthopedists and traumatologists, Moscow: Medgiz, 1957 – T.2. – p 798Disclosure of Interests:None declared
Bone density testing in clinical practice
