In 86 adults with severe motor and intellectual disabilities, lumbar spine bone density did not distinguish who had a long-bone fracture

What the research found

Progress in Rehabilitation Medicine published a retrospective cohort on 7 November 2026. Tetsuhiro Hagino and colleagues reviewed 86 adults with severe motor and intellectual disabilities who had a lumbar spine DXA scan in 2023 or 2024. People under 18 at the first scan were excluded, as were fractures only outside the extremity long bones. Twenty-three people were in the fracture group and 63 were not. Fracture history ran from April 2015 to March 2025. Mean lumbar density was 0.486 versus 0.551 g/cm2 (P=0.067). Mean Z-scores were low in both groups, -2.93 versus -3.15 (P=0.451). Of the 23 people with a fracture, 20 had already broken a bone before the first scan and 3 broke one afterward. In a logistic model, each extra year of age lined up with higher odds of being in the fracture group (odds ratio 1.057, 95 percent CI 1.017 to 1.099). Lumbar density did not. The authors say a lumbar reading alone may not sort fracture status in this group. The abstract does not give a sex split. This is a chart review of scans already on file. DOI 10.2490/prm.20260063. Not medical advice.

Evidence level: Human study. A study in people, but an association isn't proof of cause.

Read the original at Progress in Rehabilitation Medicine