1995 Volume 5 Issue 4 Pages 171-175
To clarify the prevalence of vertebral fractures (VFs) of Japanese, a population survey was conducted in a small village in Japan. To measure bone mineral density, 50 males and 50 females in each of four age strata (40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79), totaling 400 individuals were recruited almost randomly from a cohort of 1543 residents (716 men and 827 women) set up based on the resident registration as of 1988. Three hundred and ninety of the participants agreed to undergo routine two dimensional X-ray examinations. Diagnosis of VF was performed by four orthopedic surgeons according to the criteria established by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The prevalence rates having one or more VFs by sex and age in 40's, 50';s, 60's and 70's were shown as follows ; for males, 4.3, 14.6, 22.0 and 24.5% and for females, 2.1, 10.2, 14.0 and 44.9% respectively. There was little difference between 60's and 70's in males. To the contrary, in females, 70's has almost twice higher prevalence than 60's. Among persons with VF, one third of them had two or more VFs. Regarding shapes and sites of VF, wedge was the most common shape of VF, and there were found most frequently fractured were in the thraco-lumbar transition zone (25.5% Th12 and 23.4% L1 in fractured males, and 19.7% Th12 and 14.8% L1 in fractured females). J Epidemiol, 1995; 5 : 171-175.
