© 1995 Oxford University Press
research-article |
Vertebral Fracture Prevalence in Women in Hiroshima Compared to Caucasians or Japanese in the US
*Hawaii Osteoporosis Center 401 Kamakee Street, Honolulu, HI 96814, USA
**Department of Clinical Studies, Radiation Effects Research Foundation Hiroshima, Japan
Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, Pennsylvania, and University of Maryland Medical School Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota, USA
BACKGROUND: Although vertebral fractures are very common among elderly Caucasian women, no studies have compared the prevalence to that among Asian populations. Any observed differences in prevalence might lead to the identification of important environmental and/or genetic factors. We therefore compared the prevalence of vertebral fractures among US Caucasians to native Japanese and Japanese immigrants in Hawaii using a standardized approach.
METHODS: Spinal radiographs of women aged 
50 years were obtained from native Japanese in Hiroshima, Japanese Americans in Hawaii, and North American Caucasians in Minnesota between 1982 and 1991. Fractures were defined as vertebral heights >3 standard devlations (SD) below the vertebra-specific mean.
RESULTS: Compared to Japenese-Americans, odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence Intervals (CI) for prevalent vertebral fractures were 1.8 (95% CI: 1.3–2.5) for native Japanese women and 1.5 (95% CI: 1.1–2.1) for Minnesota Caucasians. The OR tended to be higher when comparing the prevalence of two or more fractures per person: OR =3.2 (95% CI: 2.0–5.3) for native Japanese and OR =1.9 (95% CI: 1.2–3.2) for Minnesota Caucasians. Similar results were observed for native Japanese using a fracture definition of >4 SD below the mean, but the OR for Caucasians was reduced to 1.2 (95%CI: 0.6–2.3).
CONCLUSION: The observation that, among these three populations, hip fracture Incidence is lowest but spine fracture prevalence is greatest among native Japanese suggests that different risk factors may be responsible.
Keywords cross-cultural comparisons, epidemiology, fracture prevalence, migrant studies, osteoporosls, vertebral fractures
Revised 1 April 1995
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  A Taguchi, M Ohtsuka, M Tsuda, T Nakamoto, I Kodama, K Inagaki, T Noguchi, Y Kudo, Y Suei, and K Tanimoto Risk of vertebral osteoporosis in post-menopausal women with alterations of the mandible Dentomaxillofac. Radiol., March 1, 2007; 36(3): 143 - 148. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. Nakamura, K. Ueno, T. Nishiwaki, Y. Okuda, T. Saito, Y. Tsuchiya, and M. Yamamoto Nutrition, mild hyperparathyroidism, and bone mineral density in young Japanese women Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, November 1, 2005; 82(5): 1127 - 1133. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. Taguchi, Y. Suei, M. Sanada, M. Ohtsuka, T. Nakamoto, H. Sumida, K. Ohama, and K. Tanimoto Validation of Dental Panoramic Radiography Measures for Identifying Postmenopausal Women with Spinal Osteoporosis Am. J. Roentgenol., December 1, 2004; 183(6): 1755 - 1760. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. C. Looker The Skeleton, Race, and Ethnicity J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., July 1, 2002; 87(7): 3047 - 3050. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. J Messina Legumes and soybeans: overview of their nutritional profiles and health effects Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, September 1, 1999; 70(3): 439S - 450. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|