Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between the severity of thoracic fracture injuries sustained by vehicle occupants in traffic accidents and their bone mineral density value. Calcaneal ultrasonic speed of sound (SOS) was measured in 71 patients injured in a traffic accidents that occurred between June 2016 and September 2019. The SOS value decreased with age, for both males and females, although males had higher SOS values than females. An analysis of the relationship between SOS value and injury severity of rib fractures indicated a significant difference in the mean SOS value between those in the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 3+ fracture injury group and those in the non-fracture group. Using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis techniques to estimate the threshold for thoracic fracture injury, SOS 1550 [m/s] was found to be the boundary between the high and low fracture risk groups. This value corresponded to the SOS of early 50 years old males and late 40 years old females.
