The hospital burden of vertebral fracture in Europe: a study of national register sources.

The aims of this study were to quantify the hospital burden of vertebral fracture in Europe and to compare this with that of hip fracture. Information on hospital discharges was sought by age and sex from Ministries of Health in Europe. Discharge rates for vertebral fracture, available from 12 countries, varied by more than 4-fold between countries, which was greater than the differences between sexes. Where the discharge rate was high for vertebral fracture the incidence of hip fracture was also high. Since nearly all cases of hip fracture are hospitalized, this suggests a relationship between hip and vertebral fracture risk that is not explained by different admission policies for vertebral fractures European countries.