Prevalence of Disc Degeneration in Asymptomatic Korean Subjects. Part 3 : Cervical and Lumbar Relationship

OBJECTIVE: There are many cases in which degenerative changes are prevalent in both the cervical and lumbar spine, and the relation between both spinal degenerative findings of MRI is controversial. The authors analyzed the prevalence of abnormal findings on MRI, and suggested a model to explain the relationship between cervical and lumbar disc in asymptomatic Korean subjects. METHODS: We performed 3 T MRI sagittal scans on 102 asymptomatic subjects (50 men and 52 women) who visited our hospital between the ages of 14 and 82 years (mean age 46.3 years). Scores pertaining to herniation (HN), annular fissure (AF), and nucleus degeneration (ND) were analyzed. The total scores for the cervical and lumbar spine were analyzed using correlation coefficients and multiple linear regression with various predictive parameters, including weight, height, sex, age, smoking, occupation, and sedentary fashion. RESULTS: The correlation coefficients of HN, AF, and ND were 0.44, 0.50, and 0.59, respectively. We made the best model for relationship by using multiple linear regression. CONCLUSION: The results of the current study showed that there was a close relationship between the cervical score (CS) and lumbar score (LS). In addition, the correlation between CS and LS, as well as the LS value itself, can be altered by other explanatory variables. Although not absolute, there was also a linear relationship between degenerative changes of the cervical and lumbar spine. Based on these results, it can be inferred that degenerative changes of the lumbar spine will be useful in predicting the degree of cervical spine degeneration in an actual clinical setting.