Objective. To learn about the physical, emotional, and social limitations experienced by postmenopausal women who have back pain due to vertebral fractures resulting from osteoporosis.Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of female patients with persistent pain due to vertebral fractures.Results. Respondents had a mean (fSD) bone density of 0.87 f 0.13 gm/cm2 and a mean (+SD) of 2.84 & 2.18 fractures. Disability was identified in pain, movement, activities of daily living, and emotion. There was a poor correlation between quality of life and findings on radiography or densitometry. Conclusion.To evaluate the effects of osteoporosis on a patient's functional status, direct questioning is required.Primary osteoporosis is an age-related condition characterized by decreased bone mass and increased susceptibility to fractures (1). The condition is common (2-4), and the incidence of the first vertebral fracture increases from 5.0 per 1,000 person-years in subjects ages 50-54 years to 296 per 1,000 person-years in women ages 2 8 5 years (5). Vertebral fractures associated with osteoporosis can be self-limited or crippling (6), causing considerable pain and disability. The way in which osteoporosis affects patients' day-to-day lives has not been well studied, and physicians may therefore be unaware Of chronic airflow limitation (7-9) and chronic congestive heart failure (lo), the relationship between laboratory measurements and impairment of quality of life is surprisingly weak.To ascertain the impact of osteoporosis on health-related quality of life (HRQL), we asked the following questions. 1) What areas of physical, emotional, and social function are most aEected by osteoporotic vertebral fractures in postmenopausal women? 2) What is the relationship between physical, emotional, and social dysfunction, other health status measures, and physiologic variables?

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