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Abstract
Objective: Describe the incidence and distribution of appendicular fractures in a cohort of veterans with spinal cord injury (SCI).
Design: Retrospective, observational study of fractures in veterans with a chronic traumatic SCI.
Setting: The Veterans Health Administration (VA) healthcare system.
Participants: Veterans included in the VA Spinal Cord Dysfunction Registry from Fiscal Years (FY) FY2002–FY2007.
Interventions: Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures: Description of fractures by site and number. Mortality at one year following incident fracture among men with single vs. multiple fractures.
Results: Male and female veterans sustained incident fractures with similar observed frequency (10.5% vs 11.5%). The majority of fractures occurred in the lower extremities for both men and women. In men, a complete extent of injury (compared to incomplete) was associated with 41% greater relative risk (RR) of incident fracture (RR 1.41, 95% confidence interval [1.17, 1.70]) among those with tetraplegia, but not paraplegia. Furthermore, many men (33.9%, n = 434) sustained multiple fractures over the course of the study. There were no differences in mortality between men who sustained a single fracture and those who had multiple fractures.
Conclusions: The extent of injury may be an important predictor of fracture risk for male veterans with tetraplegia. Once a fracture occurs, male veterans with SCI appear to be at high risk for additional fractures.
Acknowledgments
The content does not reflect the views of the Veterans Health Administration or the United States government.
ORCID
Laura D. Carbone http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3370-4680
Disclaimer statements
Contributors None.
Funding This work was supported in part with funding from the Veterans Health Administration (VA Merit Review IIR 11-103-3) and the Rheumatology Research Foundation (Ephraim P. Engleman Resident Preceptorship Award).
Conflict of interest All authors report no conflicts of interest.
Ethics approval None.