Bone Abstracts

Less than one-third of osteoporotic vertebral fractures are correctly identified and managed. This is due to a variety of reasons including lack of clear clinical triggers of who to refer for diagnostic spinal radiographs. However, there is increasing evidence for strategies to identify which older people have existing vertebral fractures. One such strategy combines four clinical triggers in a screening tool that has been shown in a large RCT to effectively increase appropriat...

There is evidence from case-control and prospective cohort studies that low bone volumetric density is a risk factor for fractures in children and adolescents, and the size of effect is similar to that seen in postmenopausal women. Bone density and size is important even in childhood fractures due to moderate or severe trauma. However, there are determinants that may influence fracture risk through other pathways than bone fragility. These include gender, ethnicity, obesity an...

Biographical DetailsI am a Consultant Senior Lecturer in Rheumatology at the University of Bristol, UK. My research area is Musculoskeletal Epidemiology, with a particular interest in the role of bone mass in determining fracture risk in children and adolescents. Other areas of interest are the epidemiology of hypermobility and scoliosis in adolescents, and identification of osteoporotic ...

Background: Scoliosis is lateral curvature of the spine ≥10°, as measured on standing spinal radiographs. There are no published studies that have investigated determinants of scoliosis using a prospective cohort design, making the establishment of cause and effect difficult. Several large population-based cohorts exist throughout the world with a wide range of data already collected, and while spinal imaging with radiographs is not generally collected in these coho...

Background: Scoliosis is lateral curvature of the spine, and adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) accounts for the majority of cases of scoliosis. One potential determinant of scoliosis that is of great interest is bone size and density. However, there are no published studies that have investigated determinants of scoliosis using a prospective cohort design making the establishment of cause and effect difficult.Methods: This study was based on the Avon...