Osteoporosis is a debilitating condition with rising frequency of fragility fractures with advancing age. Life expectancy increases in developing societies with the emergence of osteoporosis. There is a need for a simple protocol to diagnose fractures that merit treatment for osteoporosis.
Evaluation of all consecutive lateral chest radiographs performed at the National Hospital in the capital city in Greenland over a 3-month period for vertebral body heights at the anterior, middle and posterior regions. Use of anti-osteoporotic drug was evaluated from records of dispensed drugs from Greenland National Pharmacy.
1869 vertebrae were evaluated on radiographs from 203 subjects. On average 9.2 vertebrae (range 5-13) qualified for evaluation in each individual. Median (range) age was 55 (30-82) years. Any vertebral deformity above 25 (20) % was seen in 28.6 (50.2) %. More than one fracture was seen in 10.3 (27.1) %. Fractures occurred in 18.5 (36.9) % of patients from the General Medicine Clinic and in 33.3 (56.5) % of inpatients (p = 0.029). The occurrence of vertebral fractures increased with age (p