The risk of atraumatic compression fracture in postmenopausal women
increases as vertebral trabecular bone density decreases. To determine
whether the risk is similar for patients who have other metabolic
disorders, we compared eight-nine patients who had various disturbances
affecting bone and sixty-three postmenopausal women who had no evidence of
underlying disease. Trabecular bone density was measured by quantitative
computed tomography of the lumbar spine. The relationship between frequency
of fracture and bone density was modeled mathematically with spline
threshold, quadratic polynomial, and decaying exponential functions.
Analysis of covariance showed that the diagnostic category did not
influence the relationship between frequency of fracture and bone density
in any of the three models. We concluded that the risk of atraumatic
compression fracture, as assessed by measurement of vertebral trabecular
bone density using quantitative computerized tomography, is independent of
the underlying metabolic disturbance.