ArticleBMC research notes2011
Histological analysis of surgical lumbar intervertebral disc tissue provides evidence for an association between disc degeneration and increased body mass index.
Article in BMC research notes, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Mapping the degenerating intervertebral disc: a systematic review of histological evidence.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Differential patient responses to spinal manipulative therapy and their relation to spinal degeneration and post-treatment changes in disc diffusion.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2019Trial
- Influence of lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration on the outcome of total lumbar disc replacement: a prospective clinical, histological, X-ray and MRI investigation.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2012Trial
- A case series of calcium pyrophosphate deposition in the spine: An underrecognized debilitating disease.Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology · 2026Article
- 14. Discogenic Low Back Pain.Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain · 2025Review
- PDE4B promotes JNK/NLRP3 activation in the nucleus pulposus and mediates intervertebral disc degeneration.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Elemental imbalance and oxidative biomarker shifts in lumbar disc degeneration.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- CILP-2 expression in the intervertebral discs of patients with lumbar radiculopathy.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2024Article
- Does intradiscal steroid injection accelerate the histological degeneration of the human disc?Osteoporosis and sarcopenia · 2024Article
- Identification and validation of ferroptosis-related biomarkers in intervertebral disc degeneration.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2024Article
- Traumatic lumbar disc herniation: A systemic case review and meta-analysis.Brain & spine · 2023Review
- Multidisciplinary Conservative Treatment Outcomes of in-Patient Physiotherapy Set-Up Among Patients with Lumbar Disc Herniation in Dhaka City, Bangladesh: A Retrospective, Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2023Article
- Vertebral Endplate Changes Correlate with Presence of Cartilaginous Endplate in the Herniated Disc Tissue: Factor Predicting Failure of Conservative Treatment.Asian spine journal · 2022Article
- Composite trait Mendelian randomization reveals distinct metabolic and lifestyle consequences of differences in body shape.Communications biology · 2021Article
- Risk Factors of Intervertebral Disc Pathology-A Point of View Formerly and Today-A Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Review
- Article
- Comparison of the risk of developing lumbar herniated intervertebral disc between dentists and other occupations: A nationwide population-based study in Taiwan.Journal of occupational health · 2019Article
- Nerves and blood vessels in degenerated intervertebral discs are confined to physically disrupted tissue.Journal of anatomy · 2018Article
- Article
- Prevalence of Lumbosacral Transitional Vertebra in Individuals with Low Back Pain: Evaluation Using Plain Radiography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging.Asian spine journal · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough histopathological grading systems for disc degeneration are frequently used in research, they are not yet integrated into daily care routine pathology of surgical samples. Therefore, data on histopathological changes in surgically excised disc material and their correlation to clinical parameters such as age, gender or body mass index (BMI) is limited to date. The current study was designed to correlate major physico-clinical parameters from a population of orthopaedic spine center patients (gender, age and BMI) with a quantitative histologic degeneration score (HDS).
methodsExcised lumbar disc material from 854 patients (529 men/325 women/mean age 56 (15-96) yrs.) was graded based on a previously validated histologic degeneration score (HDS) in a cohort of surgical disc samples that had been obtained for the treatment of either disc herniation or discogenic back pain. Cases with obvious inflammation, tumor formation or congenital disc pathology were excluded. The degree of histological changes was correlated with sex, age and BMI.
resultsThe HDS (0-15 points) showed significantly higher values in the nucleus pulposus (NP) than in the annulus fibrosus (AF) (Mean: NP 11.45/AF 7.87), with a significantly higher frequency of histomorphological alterations in men in comparison to women. Furthermore, the HDS revealed a positive significant correlation between the BMI and the extent of histological changes. No statistical age relation of the degenerative lesions was seen.
conclusionsThis study demonstrated that histological disc alterations in surgical specimens can be graded in a reliable manner based on a quantitative histologic degeneration score (HDS). Increased BMI was identified as a positive risk factor for the development of symptomatic, clinically significant disc degeneration.
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Registered trials
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