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Relationship between historical height loss and vertebral fractures in postmenopausal women

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between historical height loss (HHL) and prevalent vertebral fractures (VF) in postmenopausal Moroccan women and to estimate its accuracy as a clinical test for detecting VF. Two hundred eighty-eight postmenopausal women were studied. All subjects had bone density measurements and spinal radiographs. Vertebral bodies (T4–L4) were graded using the semi-quantitative method of Genant. HHL was calculated as the difference between a patient’s tallest recalled height and the current measured height. The mean age was 58.4 ± 7.8 years. Thirty-one percent of patients were osteoporotic, and 46.5% had VF. Patients with VF had lost more height than those without VF (median, 2.0 cm (0.26–3.3) vs 0.96 cm (0.33–2.4), p < 0.05). In univariate analysis, HHL was positively correlated to both number and grade of prevalent VF (p < 0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve for the ability of HHL to detect VF was 0.60 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.52, 0.69). Our HHL threshold for detecting VF was >1.5 cm, its sensitivity was 58%, and its specificity was 61%. The positive predictive value was 53%, and the negative predictive value was 65%. With HHL >1.5 cm, positive likelihood ratio was 1.49 with 95% CI, 1.07, 2.06. Our results demonstrate significant positive associations between HHL, VF, number of VF, and grade of VF. However, this relationship is not clinically pertinent. Consequently, HHL cannot be used as a reliable clinical test for detecting VF in postmenopausal Moroccan women.

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Article Open access 01 July 2023

Enisa Shevroja, Jean-Yves Reginster, … Nicholas C. Harvey

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the University Mohammed V, Souissi, Rabat-Morocco and by the University Hospital of Rabat-Sale, Morocco.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Information and Research on Bone Diseases (LIRPOS), Department of Rheumatology, El Ayachi hospital, University Hospital of Rabat-Sale, Rabat, Morocco

    Loubna Bennani, Fadoua Allali, Samira Rostom, Ihsane Hmamouchi, Hamza Khazzani, Laila El Mansouri, Linda Ichchou, Fatima Zohra Abourazzak & Najia Hajjaj-Hassouni

  2. Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Laboratory of Biostatistical, Clinical, and Epidemiological Research (LBRCE), Rabat, Morocco

    Fadoua Allali, Redouane Abouqal & Najia Hajjaj-Hassouni

  3. Department of Rheumatology, El Ayachi University Hospital, Salé, Morocco

    Loubna Bennani

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  1. Loubna Bennani
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  2. Fadoua Allali
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  3. Samira Rostom
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  4. Ihsane Hmamouchi
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Correspondence to Loubna Bennani.

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Authors’ contributions

We declare that we participated at the study as following:

F. Allali and N. Hajjaj-Hassouni conceived the study and supervised its design, execution, and analysis and participated in the drafting and critical review of the manuscript. F. Allali, I. Hmamouchi, and R. Abouqal did data management and statistical analyses. All other authors enrolled patients and participated in data acquisition and critical revision of the manuscript. L. Bennani wrote the paper with input from all investigators.

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Bennani, L., Allali, F., Rostom, S. et al. Relationship between historical height loss and vertebral fractures in postmenopausal women. Clin Rheumatol 28, 1283–1289 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-009-1236-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-009-1236-6

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