Osteoporosis Associated Vertebral Fractures - Medical and Socio-economic Aspects in Austria

The purposes of this study were to analyse demographic, medical, gender and socio-economic aspects of osteoporosis associated vertebral fractures.

Inclusion Criteria:

-patients older than 50 years of age with vertebral fractures at the thoracic or lumbar spine caused by a low-energy trauma or without any trauma, or with vertebral fractures at the thoracic or lumbar spine with typical osteoporotic deformity of the vertebrae (wedge, fish, or flat)

Exclusion Criteria:

• patients younger than 50 years of age
• vertebral fractures at the cervical spine
• vertebral fractures at the thoracic or lumbar spine caused by a high-energy trauma (motor-vehicle accident, sports-related accident, fall from a considerable height)
• patients suffering from a malignancy, making a pathological fracture presumably, patients with vertebral fractures, whose dataset of follow-up monitoring was lacking, to make an evaluation of osteoporotic involvement impossible