Prevalence of Thoracic Scoliosis in Koreans Using Simple Chest Radiography

Dong-Gune Chang; Gang-Un Kim; Se-Il Suk; Dong-Ju Lim; In Taek Oh; Ki-Youl Nam; Jin-Hyok Kim; Young-Hoon Kim

doi:10.4184/jkss.2019.26.2.56

Journal List > J Korean Soc Spine Surg > v.26(Suppl 1) > 1130360

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Chang, Kim, Suk, Lim, Oh, Nam, Kim, and Kim: Prevalence of Thoracic Scoliosis in Koreans Using Simple Chest Radiography

Original Article

Journal of Korean Spine Surg 2019;26(2):56-62.

Published online: 30 June 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4184/jkss.2019.26.2.56

Prevalence of Thoracic Scoliosis in Koreans Using Simple Chest Radiography

Dong-Gune Chang, M.D., Gang-Un Kim, M.D., Se-Il Suk, M.D., Dong-Ju Lim, M.D., In Taek Oh, M.D., Ki-Youl Nam, M.D., Jin-Hyok Kim, M.D.^∗, Young-Hoon Kim, M.D.^†

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Sanggye Paik Hospital, College of Medicine, Inje University, Seoul, Korea

^∗Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, CM Hospital, Seoul, Korea

^†Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

Corresponding author: Dong-Gune Chang, M.D., Ph.D. ORCID ID: Gang-Un Kim: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9772-4977 Dong-Gune Chang: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6731-1063 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Sanggye Paik Hospital, College of Medicine, Inje University, 1342, Dongil-Ro, Nowon-Gu, Seoul, 01757, Korea TEL: +82-2-950-1284, FAX: +82-2-950-1287 E-mail: spine@paik.ac.kr

Received 19 March 201921 March 2019 Accepted 28 May 2019

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Study Design

A cross-sectional study.

Objectives

To provide reference data for the study and treatment of thoracic scoliosis.

Summary of Literature Review

There have been no reports on the prevalence of thoracic scoliosis in Korea.

Materials and Methods

From August 2011 to October 2012, radiographs of patients under 80 years of age who underwent routine chest radiographs were retrospectively reviewed. Based on their age when the chest radiographs were obtained, the patients were divided into 8 groups. The prevalence and angle of the curve of thoracic scoliosis were investigated in each age group, and the prevalence of thoracic scoliosis according to sex, the direction of the curve, number of vertebrae in the major curve, the location and rotation of the apical vertebrae, and osteophyte location were examined.

Results

The prevalence of thoracic scoliosis was 2.4% (621 patients), and female patients (3.0%, 375 of 12471) showed a higher prevalence than male patients (1.8%, 246 of 13654) (p<0.001). Right curvature was present in 445 patients and left curvature in 176 patients. In each age group, the prevalence and degree of thoracic scoliosis were 1.1% (14.2°±3.2°), 2.3% (17.4°±7.7°), 2.5% (17.0°±8.9°), 1.9% (15.8°±5.9°), 1.3% (15.5°±6.6°), 2.1% (18.0°±13.6°), 2.9% (14.3°±3.6°), and 6.1% (16.2°±4.8°), respectively. The mean curvature in all scoliosis patients was 16.0°±7.0°. The angle of the curve was significantly different by sex (15.4°±7.1° for males, 16.8°±7.6° for females). The average curve angle of patients with thoracic scoliosis was 16.0°±7.0°, among whom it was 10°-20° in 533 patients, 20°-30° in 64, 30°-40° in 11, and over 40° in 13.

Conclusions

This study could be used as a reference point for the study and treatment of thoracic scoliosis.

Keywords: Scoliosis, Thoracic vertebrae, Prevalence

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Fig. 1.

Flow diagram of enrollment of the study participants.

Fig. 2.

A chest radiograph of a 69-year-old man revealed a focal nodular opacity in the right upper lobe and right costophrenic angle blunting. In addition, thoracolumbar scoliosis was also observed on the chest radiograph, and the patient was ultimately excluded from this study.

Fig. 3.

A 22-year-old woman presented with thoracic scoliosis with a Cobb angle of 51.6° from T6 to T12 on her chest radiograph.

Table 1.

Prevalence of thoracic scoliosis according to age and its distribution by gender and curve direction

Age	0-9	10-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-69	70-79	total
Population of checked X-ray	3425	3471	3742	3815	3418	3223	2664	2367	26125
Number of thoracic scoliosis	38 (1.1%)	81 (2.3%)	95 (2.5%)	74 (1.9%)	44 (1.3%)	68 (2.1%)	77 (2.9%)	144 (6.1%)	621 (2.4%)
Gender (male/female)	17/21	35/46	26/69	29/45	15/29	36/32	32/45	56/88	246/375
Direction (Rt/Lt)	16/22	55/26	70/25	51/23	28/16	47/21	57/20	121/23	445/176
Cobb angle (˚)^∗	14.2±3.2	17.4±7.7	17.1±8.9	15.9±5.9	15.5±6.6	18.0±13.6	14.3±3.6	16.2±4.8	16.0±7.0

^∗ Mean ± standard deviation.

Table 2.

Number of involved segments

Age	0-9	10-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-69	70-79	total
Number of involved segments
3	0	1	1	4	0	0	3	2	11
4	1	4	3	9	4	1	5	4	31
5	3	24	19	10	6	7	6	16	91
6	3	23	31	10	7	8	6	10	98
7	6	15	24	14	9	9	9	16	102
8	8	10	5	14	9	10	19	28	103
9	8	3	6	7	3	19	14	21	81
10	3	0	5	5	5	5	12	25	60
11	5	1	1	1	1	8	1	15	33
12	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	7	11

Table 3.

Location of apex of curve

Age	0-9	10-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-69	70-79	total
Location of Apex of curve^∗
T3	0	2	1	3	0	1	3	0	10
T4	1	16	11	5	7	2	10	7	59
T5	1	6	7	5	5	3	8	16	51
T6	3	6	6	7	4	12	8	29	75
T7	4	10	24	21	12	22	9	32	134
T8	9	20	25	16	11	18	9	25	133
T9	11	17	14	7	3	5	10	13	80
T10	7	4	6	8	2	2	11	13	53
T11	2	0	1	2	0	3	9	9	26

^∗ Level of thoracic spine.

Table 4.

Prevalence and degree of vertebral body rotation using Nash & Moe method

Age	0-9	10-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-69	70-79	total
Rotation of apex^∗
Grade 1	4	22	20	5	10	13	42	77	193
Grade 2	3	10	9	1	0	6	16	13	58
Grade 3	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	4

^∗ Grade of vertebral body rotation by Nash & Moe method.

Table 5.

Presence and its location of vertebral body spur

Age	0-9	10-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-69	70-79	total
Location of spur
Concave	0	0	0	0	0	1	9	28	38
Convex	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	6	10
Both	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	34	38

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