Medical consequences of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures.

Osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures are an increasingly common source of morbidity and mortality in the aging population. Previously, these fractures were assumed to be benign, self-limited entities with few, if any, significant sequelae. More recently, however, individual cohorts and population-wide analyses demonstrate high rates of chronic pain, functional decline, physiologic disorder, psychosocial dysfunction, and early mortality among patients with osteoporotic vertebral body compression fractures.