title: Vertebral fractures and osteopenia in chronic alcoholic patients.
abstract: To assess whether vertebral fractures are associated with osteopenia in chronic alcoholic patients, a transversal study was carried out in 76 chronic alcoholic males and 62 age-matched healthy males. Lumbar bone mineral density (BMD) by dual photon absorptiometry and spinal chest X-ray films were done in all patients. Twenty-seven patients (36%) had vertebral fractures, but only 5 of them had a BMD below the fracture threshold. Twenty-two patients (29%) had osteoporosis by densitometric criteria. There were no significant differences in lumbar BMD between alcoholic patients with and without vertebral fractures (1.11 +/- 0.2 versus 1.13 +/- 0.2, P = ns). Previous trauma was recorded in 24 of the 27 patients with vertebral fractures and in 28 of the 49 patients without vertebral fractures (P < 0.001). Moreover, patients with vertebral fractures had more peripheral fractures than patients without vertebral fractures (81% versus 49%, P = 0.01). Only one patient was aware of a previous episode of traumatic vertebral fracture. In conclusion, chronic alcoholics frequently have traumas and vertebral fractures, the latter despite having a lumbar BMD above the fracture threshold, suggesting a frequent but unrecognized association between both processes. These results suggest that both spine films and BMD measurements should be obtained for diagnosis of osteoporosis in alcoholic patients.
authors.affiliation: Metabolic Bone Diseases Unit, Hospital Clínic i Provincial, Villarroel, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Peris
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Guañabens
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parés
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pons
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: del Rio
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Monegal
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Surís
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Caballería
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rodés
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Muñoz-Gómez
mesh_terms: D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015519:Bone Density; D001851:Bone Diseases, Metabolic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D016103:Spinal Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013131:Spine / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging