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. 2022 Feb 15;14(2):1100-1106.
eCollection 2022.

The first study of epidemiology of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis shows lower prevalence in females of Jammu and Kashmir, India

Hemender Singh  1 , Shipra  1 , Varun Sharma  1   2 , Indu Sharma  1   2 , Akash Sharma  1 , Sonakshi Modeel  1 , Nital Gupta  3 , Geetanjali Gupta  4 , Ajay K Pandita  5 , Mohammad Farooq Butt  6 , Rajesh Sharma  7 , Sarla Pandita  8 , Vinod Singh  1 , Ekta Rai  1 , Shiro Ikegawa  9 , Swarkar Sharma  1
Affiliations

The first study of epidemiology of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis shows lower prevalence in females of Jammu and Kashmir, India

Hemender Singh et al. Am J Transl Res. .

Abstract

AIS is a heterogeneous 3D spinal deformity with Cobb angle ≥10°. It affects children in the age group of 10-16 years globally with 2-3% prevalence and significant female predominance. The exact etiology of AIS is not known however, it is supposed to be associated with factors such as anthropometric, metabolic, neuromuscular abnormalities and genetics.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of AIS and association of anthropometric factors with AIS in the studied population group.

Methodology: Scoliosis screening of 9,500 individuals was carried out at different educational institutions of Jammu region in Jammu and Kashmir, India using a scoliosis-meter. The subjects were later examined radiologically.

Results: In population of the region, AIS was most prevalent among all types of scoliosis with overall prevalence of 0.61%. The prevalence was observed to be lower in females (0.31%) than males (0.88%). Based on angle of trunk rotation (ATR), lumbar curves were more prevalent than thoracic curves. Average Cobb angle in males and females were 24.9° and 22.6°, respectively. BMI showed significant association with AIS in the age group of 12-16 years (P value =0.028). Furthermore, height was significantly associated with AIS in the overall screened population (P-value =0.029).

Conclusions: The AIS patients in the Jammu region of India have unique clinical features. In contrast to the global prevalence data, the prevalence of AIS in females in the region was less in comparison to males. Based on epidemiological literature and our findings, we hypothesized that genetic factors might be a major contributor in the AIS pathogenesis along with other confounding factors such as height, BMI, ethnicity, etc.

Keywords: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis; BMI; Cobb angle; Jammu and Kashmir; angle of trunk rotation; prevalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
3D Scatter plot depicting the BMI of all the samples including both cases and controls in the age group of 12-16 years. Cases are represented with blue dots and controls are represented with yellow dots. It can be depicted from the figure that cases are more concentrated towards the lower BMI as compared to that of controls.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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