Is age more than manual material handling associated with lumbar vertebral body and disc changes? A cross-sectional multicenter MRI study

Objective Conflicting evidence exists to what extent manual material handling (MMH) causes lumbar disc disease, lack of evidence exist that this effect takes place especially at L5-S1 level, where the greatest moment occurs. The aim was to assess if lumbar vertebral body and disc changes are more common in people whose job involves significant MMH and, if so, to evaluate if lumbar vertebral body and disc changes are more prevalent in the lower part of the lumbar spine (L4-L5 and L5-S1). Design Observational, cross-sectional, with quasi-random recruitment. Setting Outpatient radiology units of three large hospitals in northern (Bologna and Brescia) and southern (Bari) Italy. Participants 183 consecutive adult subjects (89 males, 94 females) aged 20-70 years referred by the General Practitioner (GP) or a specialist for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the lumbar spine. Primary and secondary outcome measures: Neuroradiologists (blind to clinical assessment) evaluated the prevalence of i...研究背景与目的：目前关于手动物料搬运（manual material handling, MMH）在多大程度上可引发腰椎间盘疾病存在相互矛盾的证据；尤其在生物力学弯矩最大的腰5-骶1（L5-S1）节段，该致病效应是否存在亦缺乏相关依据。本研究旨在评估从事重度手动物料搬运的人群中，腰椎椎体及椎间盘改变是否更为高发；若该结论成立，则进一步评估此类改变在腰椎下段（L4-L5及L5-S1节段）是否更为普遍。 研究设计：观察性横断面研究，采用准随机入组方式。 研究场所：意大利北部（博洛尼亚、布雷西亚）及南部（巴里）的三家大型医院的门诊放射科。 研究对象：共183例连续入组的成年受试者（男89例，女94例），年龄20~70岁，均由全科医师（General Practitioner, GP）或专科医师转诊行腰椎磁共振成像（Magnetic Resonance Imaging, MRI）检查。 主要及次要结局指标：对临床评估信息不知情的神经放射学家对……的患病率进行评估