For patients with painful vertebral compression fractures, vertebroplasty (VP) is often considered after the failure of conservative treatment. As previous studies have suggested better functional outcomes in elderly patients who undergo early VP, this study was designed to better understand the benefits of early VP in patients with a painful vertebral compression fracture (PVCF).

Data were harvested from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, which includes nearly 99% of the residents of Taiwan. From this database, patients 70 years of age and older were included if they had a PVCF admission between 2000 and 2013. Those who received a VP within three months of symptom onset were compared to those who received later procedures. The primary outcome measures were mortality and hospitalization due to pneumonia or respiratory failure.

Subjects were 1，773 patients with early VP and 5，324 non-VP patients with similar baseline characteristics. Death at one year occurred more frequently in the non-VP group than in the VP group (P＝0.008). Benefits in the VP group compared to the non-VP group were seen in reduced respiratory failure (P＝0.028), but not pneumonia.

This study of patients 70 years of age or older found that early vertebroplasty (within three months of symptom onset) resulted in improved mortality and a decreased risk of respiratory failure.