The relative research on menopausal years with lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration in postmenopausal women
1.Department of Orthopaedics, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325027; 2.Department of Acupuncture and Message & Physical Therapy, the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325015
LOU Chao1,CHEN Hongliang1,FENG Xiaozhen2, et al. The relative research on menopausal years with lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration in postmenopausal women[J]. JOURNAL OF WEZHOU MEDICAL UNIVERSITY, 2014, 44(6): 421-.
Abstract：Objective: To investigate, in a population of healthy postmenopausal women, the relationship of years since menopause (YSM) with lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration between the 1st lumbar and 1st sacral vertebrae, with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods: Selected 589 healthy postmenopausal women in accordance with the inclusion criteria, recording their age, height, weight, age at menopause and YSM. Disc degeneration was assessed using a modified Pfirrmann grading system on 1.5T MRI. Results: All postmenopausal women’s lumbar intervertebral disc were degeneration. After removing age, height and weight effect, when YSM≤15 years, a positive trend was observed between YSM and severity of disc degeneration, respectively that L1/L2 (r=0.235), L2/L3 (r=0.161), L3/L4 (r=0.173), L4/L5 (r=0.146), L5/S1 (r=0.137) and all lumbar disc (r=0.259) (P<0.05 or 0.01). According to YSM, the subjects were divided into 3 groups separately, namely, 1～5 YSM, 6～10 YSM and 11～15 YSM. There was significant difference between each other (P<0.01). When YSM>15 years, there was no significant correlation between YSM and severity of disc degeneration (P>0.05). Goups of 16～20 YSM, 21～25 YSM and 26～30 YSM had no significant difference between each other (P>0.05). Multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that the effect of YSM on each disc degeneration mutation was respectively L1/L2 (40.3%), L2/L3 (29.1%), L3/L4 (27.6%), L4/L5(18.2%), L5/S1 (16.3%) and total (42.9%). Conclusion: There is a correlation between YSM and lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration. After menopause, lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration shows a progressive aggravation that almost entirely occurs in the first 15 years since menopause, showing that the estrogen decrease in postmenopausal women may accelerate the degeneration of lumbar intervertebral disc in a certain period of time.
