Hip fracture patients without vertebral fracture have a preferential osteopenia in the proximal femur

In 84 recent hip fracture patients, lateral spinal radiographs were examined for the presence of vertebral fracture. Sixty-three patients (75%) had the complication of vertebral fracture and 21 patients did not. Furthermore, we classified those hip fracture patients according to the presence or absence of vertebral fracture and investigated the characteristics on the extent of osteopenia in axial and peripheral bones. The bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine, proximal femur, and distal radius were lower in the hip fracture patients with vertebral fracture (HX with VX) than in the hip fracture patients without vertebral fracture (HX without VX), indicating that hip fracture patients can be further divided into subgroups. In making a comparison with age-matched controls, we found that the BMD of all examined sites in the HX with VX were significantly low. Yet, it was only in the BMD of the proximal femur that we could find a significant difference between the HX without VX and age-matched controls. We concluded that hip fracture patients without vertebral fracture have a preferential deficit bone density in the proximal femur and a similar density in the lumbar spine and distal radius when compared with normal women of their age. Received: Dec. 12, 1997 / Accepted: May 6, 1998