Vertebral size in elderly women with osteoporosis. Mechanical implications and relationship to fractures.

Reductions in bone density are a major determinant of vertebral fractures in the elderly population. However, women have a greater incidence of fractures than men, although their spinal bone densities are comparable. Recent observations indicate that women have 20-25% smaller vertebrae than men after accounting for differences in body size. To assess whether elderly women with vertebral fractures have smaller vertebrae than women who do not experience fractures, we reviewed 1,061 computed tomography bone density studies and gathered 32-matched pairs of elderly women, with reduced bone density, whose main difference was absence or presence of vertebral fractures. Detailed measurements of the dimensions of unfractured vertebrae and the moment arm of spinal musculature from T12 to L4 were calculated from computed tomography images in the 32 pairs of women matched for race, age, height, weight, and bone density. The cross-sectional area of unfractured vertebrae was 4.9-11.5% (10.5 +/- 1.4 vs 9.7 +/- 1.5 cm2; P < 0.0001) smaller and the moment arm of spinal musculature was 3.2-7.4% (56.4 +/- 5.1 vs 53.1 +/- 4.4 mm; P < 0.0001) shorter in women with fractures, implying that mechanical stress within intact vertebral bodies for equivalent loads is 5-17% greater in women with fractures compared to women without fractures. Such significant variations are very likely to contribute to vertebral fractures in osteoporotic women.

Gender differences in vertebral sizes in adults: biomechanical implications.

PURPOSE: To determine if vertebral bone densities or vertebral body sizes contribute to gender differences in vertebral bone mass in adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cancellous and cortical bone densities and dimensions of three lumbar vertebrae in 25 women and 18 men were measured with quantitative computed tomography (CT) and statistically analyzed. RESULTS: Neither cancellous nor cortical vertebral bone densities differed in healthy adults. Vertebral bodies in women had lower cross-sectional areas (8.22 cm2 +/- 1.09 [standard deviation] versus 10.98 cm2 +/- 1.25, P < .001) and volumes (22.42 cm3 +/- 2.40 versus 30.86 cm3 +/- 2.6, P < .001). These differences also were evident in men and women matched for age, weight, vertebral bone density, and vertebral body height. Overall cross-sectional areas of vertebral bodies are 25% smaller in women than men. Vertebral bone densities do not differ between sexes. Estimates of mechanical stress within vertebral bodies are 30%-40% higher in women than men for equivalent applied loads. CONCLUSION: Smaller vertebral bodies in women confer biomechanical disadvantages that may contribute to more vertebral fractures in elderly women.