Researchers from Hebrew SeniorLife’s Institute for Aging Research, and Boston Medical Center have reported that one-third of people 40-59 years have image-based evidence of moderate to severe degenerative disc disease and more than half had moderate to severe spinal osteoarthritis. Beyond that, the prevalence of disc height narrowing and joint osteoarthritis increased 2 to 4 fold in those aged 60-69 and 70-89 respectively. Furthermore, scientists observed that progression of these conditions occurred 40—70% more frequently in women than men.
To uncover these results, scientists used CT scans taken six years apart to evaluate the severity of disc disease and spinal osteoarthritis in 1200 cohort members of the Framingham Study—a collection of data from Framingham, MA residents and their offspring dating back to the 1940s. The results of this study were published recently in The Spine Journal.
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