Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Nov;32(11):2247-2255.
doi: 10.1007/s00198-021-06004-3. Epub 2021 May 19.

The association between incident vertebral deformities, health-related quality of life and functional impairment: a 10.7-year cohort study

A Shah  1 , F Wu  2 , G Jones  2 , F Cicuttini  3 , L S Toh  4 , L L Laslett  2
Affiliations

The association between incident vertebral deformities, health-related quality of life and functional impairment: a 10.7-year cohort study

A Shah et al. Osteoporos Int. 2021 Nov.

Abstract

We aimed to describe longitudinal changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures associated with incident vertebral deformities (VDs) over 10.7 years. Incident VDs are associated with clinically significant functional impairment in men, and reduction in overall HRQoL in older women. Increasing severity and number of incident VDs are associated with clinically meaningful functional impairment in men, but not women.

Introduction: To describe associations between incident VD and changes in HRQoL and functional ability in older adults over 10.7 years.

Methods: Participants (n = 780) underwent whole-body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans at baseline, 2.5, 5.1 and 10.7 years later. VD was defined as ≥ 25% reduction in anterior height relative to posterior height of vertebrae from T4 to L4. An incident VD was defined as a new VD at any follow-up visit. Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL-4D) questionnaire and Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI) were used to assess HRQoL and functional impairment. Changes in AQoL and HAQ-DI associated with incident VD were analysed using multilevel mixed-effects linear regression. Log binomial regression was used to examine clinically relevant changes and effects of severity and number of VD.

Results: The incidence of VD was 37% over 10.7 years. In women, incident VDs were associated with annual reduction in AQoL utility score (β = -0.005, 95% CI -0.008 to -0.002). Men had increased risk of clinically significant reduction in HAQ-DI (IRR = 1.76, 95% CI 1.07-2.89). Men had increased risk of clinically important functional impairment with increasing severity (IRR 1.76, 95% CI 1.04-2.95 for mild vs IRR 1.98, 95% CI 1.13-3.47 for moderate to severe VD) as well as number of incident VD (IRR 1.85, 95% CI 1.17-2.93 for one vs IRR 1.88, 95% CI 0.94-3.78 for ≥ 2 VDs). Such associations were not observed in women.

Conclusions: Incident VDs are associated with clinically significant functional impairment in men, and reduction in overall HRQoL in older women. Increasing severity and number of incident VDs are associated with clinically meaningful functional impairment in men, but not women.

Keywords: Osteoporosis; Physical function; Quality of life; Vertebral fracture; Vertebral morphometry.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Jackson SA, Tenenhouse A, Robertson L (2000) Vertebral fracture definition from population-based data: preliminary results from the Canadian Multicenter Osteoporosis Study (CaMos). Osteoporos Int 11(8):680–687. https://doi.org/10.1007/s001980070066 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Jones G, White C, Nguyen T, Sambrook PN, Kelly PJ, Eisman JA (1996) Prevalent vertebral deformities: relationship to bone mineral density and spinal osteophytosis in elderly men and women. Osteoporos Int 6(3):233–239. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01622740 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pluijm SMF, Tromp AM, Smit JH, Deeg DJH, Lips P (2000) Consequences of vertebral deformities in older men and women. J Bone Miner Res 15(8):1564–1572. https://doi.org/10.1359/jbmr.2000.15.8.1564 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Nevitt MC, Ettinger B, Black DM, Stone K, Jamal SA, Ensrud K, Segal M, Genant HK, Cummings SR (1998) The association of radiographically detected vertebral fractures with back pain and function: a prospective study. Ann Intern Med 128(10):793–800 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hasserius R, Karlsson MK, Nilsson BE, Johnell OI (2003) Prevalent vertebral deformities predict increased mortality and increased fracture rate in both men and women: a 10-year population-based study of 598 individuals from the Swedish cohort in the European Vertebral Osteoporosis Study. Osteoporos Int 14(1):61–68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-002-1316-9 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources