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.
Keywords: Bone fractures; Epidemiology; Osteoporosis; Spinal cord injuries.