Prevalence and Predictors of Asymptomatic Vertebral Compression Fractures on DXA: Findings from UK Biobank Imaging

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Among 2446 asymptomatic UK Biobank participants aged 40 to 79 years, 356 (14.6%) had moderate or severe vertebral fractures on DXA.
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Fracture prevalence increased from 9.4% among participants aged 40 to 49 years to 19.6% among those aged 70 to 79 years.
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Moderate or severe fractures were more prevalent in men than women (18.8% vs 10.8%).
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Including vertebral deformities with 20% to 24.9% height loss increased the estimated prevalence to approximately 30%.
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Radiologists showed substantial interobserver agreement for fracture identification (Fleiss κ = 0.74), whereas agreement between radiologists and the automated system was lower (κ = 0.31).

European Radiology

by David John Wilson, Richard William Whitehouse, Georgina Marian Allen, Fiona Saunders, Iain Wilson, Richard Abel
October 13, 2026

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