Prevalence of Thoracic Scoliosis in Adolescents in Turkey: Analysis of 1065 Chest Radiographs

Abstract Background School scoliosis screening programs (SSSPs) are widely used for reporting the prevalence and improving the awareness of scoliosis. Thus, scoliosis could be prevented and/or timely treated. However, mild scoliosis (10-20o) could be missed in SSSPs. Previously obtained plain chest radiographs could be used adjunct to SSSPs to detect the exact prevalence of scoliosis. In this study, we aimed to detect the prevalence of thoracic scoliosis in adolescents in Turkey using posterior-anterior chest radiographs. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional radiological study evaluating plain chest radiographs in adolescents who visited the Emergency Department or outpatient clinics at a community-based hospital. We also reviewed the literature regarding scoliosis screening in adolescents using Pubmed/MEDLINE search engine. Results We included 1065 adolescents. Thoracic scoliosis was detected on plain posterior-anterior chest radiographs in 10.4% of the adolescents. The prevalence of thoracic scoliosis was significantly larger in females when compared to males (12.3% vs. 8.6%, p=0.047). We retrieved 140 articles regarding scoliosis screening in adolescents from the literature. Each continent had different scoliosis prevalence (according to Cobb angle of 10o or more verified on a radiograph). Conclusions The SSSPs help us detect the prevalence of scoliosis, and the factors associated with scoliosis in adolescents. However, patients with small-angle curves could be missed in SSSPs. Our results showed that plain posterior-anterior chest radiographs could be used adjunct to SSSPs to accurately detect prevalence of scoliosis in adolescents.