The relationship between osteoarthritis and osteoporosis in the spine.

The degree of osteoarthritis and osteoporosis in the lumbar spine has been compared in patients with spinal osteoarthritis and osteoporotic fractures and in a normal control group of 252 elderly subjects, to investigate the relationship between osteoarthritis and osteoporosis in the spine. The two indices were highly significantly different in the three groups (p<0.01). The degree of osteoarthritis in the osteoarthritic patients was higher (p<0.01) than in the fracture patients and the normal control subjects, while the degree of osteoporosis in the fracture patients was higher than in osteoarthritic patients and normal controls (p<0.01). These data support the conclusion that osteoarthritis and osteoporosis in the spine are inversely related.