title: Prevalence of isthmic lumbar spondylolisthesis in middle-aged subjects from eastern and western Finland.
abstract: Isthmic spondylolisthesis of the lumbosacral spine is a common radiologic finding in patients with low back pain, but its prevalence in unselected populations is poorly known. We examined X-ray pictures of the lumbosacral region of 1147 randomly selected 45-64-yr-old subjects living in eastern or western Finland. Of them, 69 subjects were found to have isthmic spondylolisthesis. The finding was more common in men (7.7%) than in women (4.6%; p = 0.026). The prevalence of spondylolisthesis was not age-related; it was higher in women with an occupation causing a high back load than in those with a low load occupation (p = 0.049), but this difference was not seen in men. The prevalence of spondylolisthesis tended to be higher in women with multiple pregnancies than in those with less than or equal to 2 pregnancies (p = 0.074). Women from eastern Finland had a higher prevalence of spondylolisthesis (7.2%) than those from western Finland (2.6%; p = 0.007), whereas no such difference was seen in men. The difference in women may partly be explained by factors causing loading of the low back, i.e. heavier work and a higher number of pregnancies.
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Research Centre of the Social Insurance Institution, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Virta
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rönnemaa
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Osterman
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aalto
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Laakso
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations; D010298:Parity; D015995:Prevalence; D011859:Radiography; D012737:Sex Factors; D013168:Spondylolisthesis / Q000145:classification / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016474:Weight-Bearing