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. 2022 Aug;142(8):1731-1737.
doi: 10.1007/s00402-021-03798-z. Epub 2021 Feb 5.

Mid and lower thoracic kyphosis changes during adulthood: the influence of age, sex and thoracic coronal curvature

Julio Urrutia  1 , Pablo Besa  2 , Felipe Narvaez  2 , Arturo Meissner-Haecker  2 , Clemente Rios  2 , Cristobal Piza  2
Affiliations

Mid and lower thoracic kyphosis changes during adulthood: the influence of age, sex and thoracic coronal curvature

Julio Urrutia et al. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Introduction: There is conflicting data on how thoracic kyphosis changes throughout adulthood. We evaluated mid and lower thoracic kyphosis (MTK) in various age groups and the influence of age, sex and coronal curve (CC) on MTK.

Material and methods: We studied 1323 patients 15-80 years-old (54.4% females) previously evaluated with chest radiographs. We established three groups: patients 15-40 (group 1); 41-60 (group 2) and 61-80 years old (group 3). MTK (T5-T12) and CC were measured using Cobb's method. We established differences in MTK between groups using ANOVA with Bonferroni correction. We performed a correlation analysis of MTK with age and CC, and a linear regression analysis to determine if age, sex and CC independently predicted MTK.

Results: MTK increased with older age: mean MTK group 1 = 23.4°; group 2 = 27.9° and group 3 = 34.4°, p < 0.01. The increase in MTK was observed in both genders. Scoliosis was more common in females (15.4%) than in males (6.7%), p < 0.01. MTK was correlated with age (r = 0.4; p < 0.01) and slightly correlated with CC (r = 0.07, p < 0.01). MTK was larger in females than in males (29.1° vs. 27.6°, p < 0.01). Age (ß-coefficient = 0.26) and CC (ß-coefficient = 0.14), but not sex, independently influenced MTK in the regression analysis.

Conclusion: MTK increases with advancing age during adulthood in both genders; CC, but not sex, was an independent predictor of MTK.

Keywords: Adult spinal deformity; Aging spine; Chest radiographs; Prevalence study; Thoracic kyphosis; Thoracic spine.

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