title: Associations of vertebral deformities and osteoarthritis with back pain among Japanese women: the Hizen-Oshima study.
abstract: We examined the spinal distribution of the types of vertebral deformities and the associations of vertebral deformities and osteoarthritis with back pain in Japanese women. Midthoracic and upper lumbar vertebrae were more susceptible to deformity. Vertebral deformity and osteoarthritis were frequent and were associated with back pain.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Vertebral fractures due to osteoporosis and osteoarthritis are both common and significant health problems in aged people. However, little is known about the descriptive epidemiology of the individual deformity types and the relative clinical impact in women in Japan.
  
  
  METHODS
  Lateral radiographs were obtained from 584 Japanese women ages 40 to 89 years old. Deformities were defined as vertebral heights of more than 3 standard deviations (SDs) below the normal mean. Osteoarthritis was defined as Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade 2 or higher. Information on upper or low back pain during the previous month was collected by questionnaire. We compared the spinal distribution of the three types of vertebral deformities (wedge, endplate, and crush) typical of fractures and examined the associations of number and type of vertebral deformities and osteoarthritis with back pain.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifteen percent of women had at least one vertebral deformity and 74% had vertebral osteoarthritis. The prevalence of upper or low back pain was 30.1%. Deformities were most common in the midthoracic and upper lumbar regions and wedge was the frequent type, followed by endplate and crush. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the odds of back pain was 3.0 (95% CI 1.5-6.3) times higher for women with a single wedge deformity and 3.2 (95% CI 1.0--0.6) times higher for women with two or more wedge deformities, compared to women with no wedge deformity. Vertebral osteoarthritis was associated with back pain (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1-2.9), independent of other covariates including age and deformities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results in this group of Japanese women are similar to and consistent with results reported previously in other populations of Japanese and Caucasians.
authors: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Kitahara
authors: Z
authors: Z
authors: Ye
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Aoyagi
authors: P D
authors: PD
authors: Ross
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Abe
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Honda
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Kanagae
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Mizukami
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Kusano
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Tomita
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Shindo
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Osaki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001416:Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D055013:Osteoarthritis, Spine / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015663:Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D058866:Osteoporotic Fractures / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D013121:Spinal Curvatures / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D016103:Spinal Fractures / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology