Lumbar Scoliosis in Patients With Breast Cancer: Prevalence and Relationship With Breast Cancer Treatment, Age, Bone Mineral Density, and Body Mass Index

OBJECTIVE: To identify the prevalence of lumbar scoliosis in breast cancer patients and to investigate the potential risk factors of lumbar scoliosis. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed in breast cancer patients aged more than 40 years who underwent dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scanning between January 2014 and December 2014. We divided the patients into control and experimental groups in order to investigate the influence of breast cancer treatment. The curvature of the lumbar spine was measured by using the Cobb method on a DEXA scan. Scoliosis was defined by the presence of a curvature 10° or larger. The variables, including age, bone mineral density (BMD), body mass index (BMI), and breast cancer treatments, were also obtained from the medical chart. Prevalence of lumbar scoliosis was evaluated, and it was compared between the two groups. The relationships between lumbar scoliosis and these variables were also investigated. RESULTS: Lumbar scoliosis was present in 16 out of our 652 breast cancer patients. There was no difference in the prevalence of lumbar scoliosis between the control group (7/316) and the experimental group (9/336) (p=0.70). According to the logistic regression analysis, lumbar scoliosis had no significant association with operation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, BMI, and BMD (p>0.05). However, age showed a significant relationship with prevalence of lumbar scoliosis (p<0.001; odds ratio, 1.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.054–1.170). CONCLUSION: Prevalence of lumbar scoliosis in patients with breast cancer was 2.45%. Lumbar scoliosis had no association with breast cancer treatments, BMD, and BMI. Age was the only factor related to the prevalence of lumbar scoliosis.