B. Begerow et al., Time since vertebral fracture: An important variable concerning quality oflife in patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis, OSTEOPOR IN, 10(1), 1999, pp. 26-33
The aim of the study was to identify factors affecting patients with postme
nopausal osteoporosis who had experienced one or more vertebral fractures.
The overall hypothesis was that time after fracture would influence patient
s' perception of pain and well-being. The sample (50 patients) was split in
to two groups (group A, time after fracture less than or equal to 24 months
; group B, time after fracture >24 months). A fracture was defined as a ver
tebral height reduction of more than 20% or at least 4 mm. The assessment w
as carried out using the Spine Deformity Index and was confirmed by an expe
rienced radiologist. To assess quality of life (QoL) the following measures
were used: 'well-being scale' including social extroversion as a subscale,
pain scale, and limitations in everyday Life. The Sense of Coherence quest
ionnaire developed by Antonovsky measures the ability of a person to see li
fe meaningful, manageable and explicable. This questionnaire may reflect pa
tients' coping abilities and was introduced to establish whether these infl
uence the perception of pain and well-being after vertebral fracture. Varia
nce and covariance analysis was carried out using SPSS (version 6.1). Diffe
rences between groups A and B were found for perception of average pain (p
= 0.017), social extroversion (p = 0.003) and well-being (p = 0.024). No di
fferences were found for Limitations in everyday life (p = 0.607), Sense of
Coherence (p = 0.638), the Spine Deformity Index (p = 0.171) and loss of h
eight (p = 0.619). All analyses were corrected for age. Concurrent medicati
on was not found to influence the results. Findings suggest that time after
fracture is an important variable when considering QoL and well-being afte
r vertebral fracture and should, therefore, be considered in future studies
.