Objectives : To evaluate the association between smoking and osteoporotic vertebral fractures (OVFs) in postmenopausal women.
Summary of Literature Review : Several studies have examined the relationship of smoking with hip fractures, but few studies have analyzed the relationship of smoking with spine fractures in women thus far.
Materials and Methods : This study considered 1255 postmenopausal women aged 50 years and older (enrollment from April 2008 to January 2009) from 62 study sites in a nationwide hospital. The amount of smoking was calculated in pack-years. Further, OVFs were diagnosed using a semi-quantitative method. To analyze the relationship between smoking and OVFs, we used a paired t-test, a χ2-test, and a binary logistic regression analysis.
Results : The past history of smoking was 7.2% in the patient group and 4.3% in the control group (p=0.025). The mean pack-years of smoking was 0.34 in the control group and 0.62 in the patient group (p=130). The mean T-score in the lumbar bone mass density (BMD) was ?1.64 in the control group and ?2.19 in the patient group (p=0.409). Smoking was a risk factor of vertebral fractures in postmenopausal women (odd's ratio=1.68, 95% confidence interval=1.020?2.759, p=0.042) irrespective of the lumbar BMD and the medical treatment for osteoporosis and obesity.
Conclusions : Smoking is a risk factor for osteoporotic vertebral fractures in postmenopausal women independently without regard to lumbar BMD. Therefore, cessation of smoking is important for the prevention of OVFs in postmenopausal women.