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
. 2026 Mar 16;21(1):51.
doi: 10.1007/s11657-026-01686-w.

Reduced walking speed at discharge predicts mortality after clinical osteoporotic vertebral fracture: A retrospective cohort study

Hiroyuki Tominaga  1 , Shinobu Uezono  2 , Ichiro Kawamura  2 , Yoshitaka Yamashita  3 , Noboru Taniguchi  2
Affiliations

Reduced walking speed at discharge predicts mortality after clinical osteoporotic vertebral fracture: A retrospective cohort study

Hiroyuki Tominaga et al. Arch Osteoporos. .

Abstract

This study investigated how walking speed affects survival in patients with clinical osteoporotic vertebral fractures. A walking speed below 0.71 m/sec was associated with increased mortality. Walking speed may serve as a simple yet powerful prognostic indicator, highlighting the importance of mobility preservation in fracture management.

Purpose: The number of patients with fractures caused by osteoporosis has increased with the increasing proportion of aging adults in recent years. Osteoporotic vertebral fractures (OVFs) are associated with poor prognosis. Although several reports on the life expectancy of patients with OVFs exist, it is unclear how walking speed affects the life expectancy of patients with clinical OVFs. This study investigated the relationship between walking speed and life expectancy after injury in patients with clinical OVFs.

Methods: A total of 104 patients with new clinical OVFs were conservatively treated with a trunk cast from 2015 to 2017. Lumbar spine and femur bone mineral density (BMD), the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), walking speed, and spinopelvic parameters were measured. We compared the deceased and survival groups and examined the risk factors influencing survival.

Results: Among the 104 patients included in the study, 67 were women; the median age was 82 years, and the median observation period was 1168 days. Thirty-two patients died during the observation period. The deceased group had a lower GNRI and a slower walking speed at discharge. In addition, imaging revealed more local kyphosis and more calcification of vessels in the deceased group. The risk of death increased when the walking speed after the OVF was less than 0.71 m/sec.

Conclusion: A walking speed of 0.71 m/sec or slower was associated with poor prognosis after clinical vertebral fracture. Nutritional management, kyphotic deformity prevention, and walking speed maintenance are essential for vertebral fracture treatment.

Keywords: Clinical osteoporotic vertebral fracture (OVF); Local kyphosis; Mortality after vertebral fracture; Osteoporosis; Sarcopenia; Walking speed.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethical approval: The IRB of Izumi Regional Medical Center approved this study (approval number 20190115–1). Informed consent: All participants provided written informed consent. Conflict of interest: This research received no specific grant from any public, commercial, or not-for-profit funding agency. Hiroyuki Tominaga, Shinobu Uezono, Ichiro Kawamura, Yoshitaka Yamashita, and Noboru Taniguchi declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Kaplan–Meier survival curves of the mortality of osteoporotic vertebral fracture patients with a walking speed less than 0.71 m/sec
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Silverman SL, Minshall ME, Shen W, Harper KD, Xie S, Health-Related Quality of Life Subgroup of the Multiple Outcomes of Raloxifene Evaluation Study (2001) The relationship of health-related quality of life to prevalent and incident vertebral fractures in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis: results from the multiple outcomes of raloxifene evaluation study. Arthritis Rheum 44:2611-2619 - PubMed
    1. Imagama S, Hasegawa Y, Matsuyama Y, Sakai Y, Ito Z, Hamajima N, Ishiguro N (2011) Influence of sagittal balance and physical ability associated with exercise on quality of life in middle-aged and elderly people. Arch Osteoporos 6:13–20 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Center JR, Nguyen TV, Schneider D, Sambrook PN, Eisman JA (1999) Mortality after all major types of osteoporotic fracture in men and women: an observational study. Lancet 353:878–882 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ensrud KE, Ewing SK, Cawthon PM et al (2009) A comparison of frailty indexes for the prediction of falls, disability, fractures, and mortality in older men. J Am Geriatr Soc 57:492–498 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Johnell O, Kanis JA, Oden A, Sernbo I, Redlund-Johnell I, Petterson C, De Laet C, Jonsson B (2004) Mortality after osteoporotic fractures. Osteoporos Int 15:38–42 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources