Existing severe osteoporotic vertebral fractures in elderly Chinese males were only weakly associated with higher further vertebral fracture risk at year-4 follow-up

Excerpt

In our recent publication of MrOS (Hong Kong) year-4 follow-up, we demonstrated that, for elderly Chinese males (mean age 71.7 years, range 65–91 years), existing osteoporotic vertebral fractures (OVFs) were only very weakly associated with higher risk of further OVF [1]. This observation differs from the general conception that existing OVF is an important predictor of further OVF [2]. On the other hand, we evaluated the matched females’ MsOS (Hong Kong) study at the same period, and indeed our female results largely mirror what have been published [3]. Compared with females, vertebrae in elderly males are more likely to be wedge shaped and are more likely to have deformities due to other causes such as trauma [2]. Thus, we want to exclude the possibility that the vertebral deformities due to old traumatic and/or degenerative causes might have confounded our observation for males. …