Incidence and Surgery Rate of Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Nationwide Database Study

Abstract

Idiopathic scoliosis is the most common cause of three-dimensional deformities of the spine. Most of the previous studies have been cross-sectional studies to estimate the prevalence in the general population. An age-matched, population-based study is performed using nationwide databases between 2011 and 2015. The incidence rates of idiopathic scoliosis by age group, sex, and region are identified. We also investigate the pattern of medical institution use and the surgery rate of patients with idiopathic scoliosis. Our results show that a total of 268,372 patients were diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis. The overall incidence was 0.497%, and the incidence for females was 1.44 times higher than for males. By age group, the incidence of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis in patients aged 10-14 years was 0.821% compared to 0.029%, 0.192%, and 0.709% for those patients aged 0-2, 3-9, and 15-19 years, respectively. Both male and female urban populations had higher incidences than rural populations with no age differences at diagnosis. Survival analysis confirmed that 0.7% of diagnosed patients underwent surgical treatment within five years. Understanding the epidemiology of idiopathic scoliosis is helpful in diagnosing high risk patients and monitoring surgical interventions.

Keywords: Idiopathic scoliosis; incidence; medical utilization patterns; nationwide database; surgical treatment.

Figure 1

The diagram shows the nationwide scoliosis investigation from The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service data analysis.

Figure 2

Age-specific incidence of idiopathic scoliosis between 2011–2015.

Figure 3

Each graph shows the Kaplan-Meier survival curve of surgery rate of idiopathic scoliosis patients: (A) Male vs. female, (B) by age group, (C) by age group in the male population, and (D) by age group in the female population.