The Relationship Between Modic Changes And Sex, Age, Quantity Of Work, Weight And Lower Back Pain In Lumbar Disc Degenerative Diseases

Objective:The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between lumbar Modic changes and several related influential factors, including age, sex, quantity of work and weight, besides, the relationship between lumbar Modic changes and clinical lower back pain in patients who had been suffering lumbar disc degenerative diseases was analyzed.Methods:We have retrospective analyzed50patients with lumbar disc degenerative diseases between November1st2011and December1st2011from our department. The patients’age, sex, quantity of work, height, weight, VAS score of lower back pain and the MRI data were all recorded. According to the methods of etiological studies in epidemiology, the data were analyzed and attempted to find the relationship between lumbar Modic changes and age, sex, quantity of work, weight and clinical lower back pain.Results:There were50patients with lumbar disc degenerative diseases and66lumbar discs, in which31patients and40lumbar discs were found lumbar Modic changes, the incidence of lumbar Modic changes is62%; There were24male patients and26female patients;37patients had evident lower back pain, while other13patients had not evident lower back pain, the incidence of lower back pain is74%; Among all the patients, there were10Modic type I,27Modic type Ⅱ, and3Modic type Ⅲ, the incidence of Modic changes of each type is15.2%,40.9%and4.5%respectively; The lumbar spinal levels in which lumbar Modic changes existed were L2/3(3)、L3/4(8)、L4/5(31)、L5/S1(24),the incidence of Modic changes in each lumbar spinal level is4.5%,12.1%,47%,36.4%respectively from L2/3to L5/S1; Lumbar Modic changes occurred more often in female patients than in male patients (P<0.05); Age seemed not to be correlated to the incidence of lumbar Modic changes (P>0.05); Patients whose jobs require severe labor were more apt to suffer lumbar Modic changes than those whose jobs require mild labor (P<0.05), however, the incidence between mild-labor patients and moderate-labor patients and the incidence between moderate-labor patients and severe-labor patients were not of statistical significance (P>0.05); Lumbar Modic changes in obese patients were more than those whose weights were normal(P<0.05), however, the incidence between patients who were in normal weight and those who were in over-weight and the incidence between patients who were in over-weight and those who were obese were not of statistical significance (P>0.05); There were31patients with lumbar Modic changes, in which26suffered lower back pain, the lower back pain’s positive rate was83.9%, χ2was4.13, P<0.05, OR was3.782, CI of OR was between1.009to14.173, it indicated that lower back pain was related to lumbar Modic changes; Patients with lumbar Modic type Ⅰ had higher incidence of lower back pain than those with lumbar Modic type Ⅱ and lumbar Modic type Ⅲ.(P<0.05)Conclusion:Sex, quantity of work and weight are associated with lumbar Modic changes. Lumbar Modic change is a risk factor of clinical lower back pain in patients who are suffering lumbar disc degenerative diseases.