ArticleJournal of clinical orthopaedics and trauma
The prevalence of lumbar disc degeneration in symptomatic younger patients: A study of MRI scans.
Article in Journal of clinical orthopaedics and trauma. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Physiological Ageing of the Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging, a Systematic Literature Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Pooled it
- Immune system expression profiling in patients experiencing low back pain: A pilot study.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitation · 2026Observational
- Biomechanical optimization of pedicle screw trajectories in osteoporotic lumbar fusion: finite element analysis and validation of robotic-assisted implementation.Journal of robotic surgery · 2025Article
- Article
- Are there any correlations among the number of discopathy levels and pain intensity or disability in patients with symptomatic low back pain?Archives of orthopaedic and trauma surgery · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
designRetrospective Cohort Study.
objectiveLow back pain (LBP) and radiculopathy present a significant burden to patients and healthcare systems. Lumbar disc degeneration (LDD) is associated with LBP. While the prevalence of LDD in older, symptomatic, patients has been extensively documented there has been little describing the prevalence in younger patients.
methods1011 patients aged 20-30 years, who had undergone Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), for investigation of LBP and or radiculopathy, over a 9-year period were identified. Those who had previous surgery, congenital deformities or unavailable imaging were excluded. A single surgeon evaluated the MRI images of 730 patients and classified each lumbar disc according to the Pfirrmann classification. 105 randomly selected patient's imaging was reviewed again by the primary reviewer and by a consultant musculoskeletal radiologist with the kappa coefficients for inter-rater and intra-rater agreement calculated.
resultsOf the 730 patients, 428 (58.6%) had MRI evidence of LDD (Pfirrmann III, IV, V). 255 (59.6%) demonstrated single level pathology and 173 (41.4%) multilevel involvement. There was very high intra/inter observer agreement with kappa coefficients for intra-observer agreement from 0.65 to 0.98 and inter-observer agreement from 0.51 to 0.88.
conclusionsThis is the largest study to document the prevalence of LDD in a symptomatic young cohort. A large prospective study including non-symptomatic patients and information on associated factors would add further information. Given the considerably higher than anticipated prevalence identified in this study and the significant burden associated with LBP this study should encourage such further research.
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