Relationship between obesity and lumbar disc herniation in adolescents

OBJECTIVE To explore the relationship between obesity and lumbar disc herniation in adolescents. METHODS From January 2018 to July 2019, 581 patients (337 males, 244 females) with lumbar disc herniation were included in the surgical treatment. According to the age classification standard of the World Health Organization, they were divided into two groups:the adolescent group, 235 cases (145 males, 90 females), age 14 to 44 years old with an average of (32.2±7.3) years. The middle-aged and elderly group, 346 cases (192 males, 154 females), age 45 to 85 years old with an average age of (58.7± 9.8) years. At the time of admission, the same trained investigator measured height, waist circumference and hip circumference with tape measure and weight with electronic scale. All the data were measured twice and the average value was taken and recorded. The body mass index and the waist-hip ratio were calculated. According to each parameter standard, the patients were divided into normal, overweight and obese. The proportion of obese people in different age groups was calculated and analyzed statistically. RESULTS The normal of the BMI, waist circumference and waist-hip ratio of the young patients were 78(33.2%), 91 (38.7%) and 85(36.2%) respectively;104(44.3%), 95(40.4%), 99(42.1%) were overweight, 53(22.5%), 49(20.9%), 51 (21.7%) were obese. The normal of the BMI, waist circumference and waist-hip ratio of the middle-aged and old patients were 145 (41.9%), 138 (39.9%) and 147 ( 42.5%) respectively;153 (44.2%), 162 (46.8%), 155 (44.8%) were overweight, 48 (13.9%), 46 (13.3%), 44 (12.7%) were obese. Among the three parameters, the proportion of obese people in the adolescent group was higher than that in the middle-aged group, and the difference was significant (χ2 was 8.836, 6.228 7, 8.536 3 respectively, P<0.05). CONCLUSION For adolescent patients, obesity may increase the load of lumbar disc, affect its metabolism and accelerate its degeneration. For adolescent, obesity is a more significant risk factor of lumbar disc herniation, so it is more important to control weight and prevent obesity in adolescent to reduce the incidence of lumbar disc herniation.