Abdominal adipose tissue thickness measured using magnetic resonance imaging is associated with lumbar disc degeneration in a Chinese patient population

Abstract

The relationship between abdominal adiposity and disc degeneration remains largely uninvestigated. Here, we investigated the association between abdominal adipose tissue thickness and lumbar disc degeneration in a cross-sectional study of 2415 participants from The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. All subjects were scanned with a 3T Magnetic Resonance Imaging system to evaluate the degree of lumbar disc degeneration. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that men in the highest quartiles for abdominal diameter (AD), sagittal diameter (SAD), and ventral subcutaneous thickness (VST) were at higher odds ratio for severe lumbar disc degeneration than men in the lowest quartiles. The adjusted model revealed that women in the highest quartiles for AD and SAD were also at higher odds ratio for severe lumbar disc degeneration than women in the lowest quartiles. Our results suggest that abdominal obesity might be one of underlying mechanisms of lumbar disc degeneration, and preventive strategies including weight control could be useful to reduce the incidence of lumbar disc degeneration. Prospective studies are needed to this confirm these results and to identify more deeper underlying mechanisms.

Comparative Study of Abdominal Muscle Thickness on Ultrasonography in Healthy Adolescents and Patients With Low Back Pain

“…Several mechanisms might contribute to the association between the abdominal fat tissue diameter and lumbar disk degeneration. Accumulation of fat might increase compressive and shear loads on the lumbar spine during activities of daily living, and also atherosclerosis and stenosis of the feeding arteries might also occur and then reduce blood flow, resulting in disk degeneration and LBP . However, the results of this study showed that the abdominal subcutaneous fat dimension was larger (22%–29%) in the patients with LBP than the healthy participants.…”

“…Accumulation of fat might increase compressive and shear loads on the lumbar spine during activities of daily living, and also atherosclerosis and stenosis of the feeding arteries might also occur and then reduce blood flow, resulting in disk degeneration and LBP. 39 However, the results of this study showed that the abdominal subcutaneous fat dimension was larger (22%-29%) in the patients with LBP than the healthy participants. One of the main causes of such a difference might an increase in the size of abdominal noncontractile tissues.…”

“…In this regard, histologic results indicated that the noncontractile tissues would be fibrotic in the presence of microtrauma, inflammation, carrying heavy loads, and muscle atrophy . The results of a study conducted by Yang et al indicated a significant correlation between increased abdominal adipose tissue thickness and lumbar disk degeneration that played a key role in LBP. Several mechanisms might contribute to the association between the abdominal fat tissue diameter and lumbar disk degeneration.…”

Is adiposity associated with back and lower limb pain? A systematic review

“…associations between fat mass and pain [50,[52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67], nine studies examined adiposity within a specific muscle [68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75], five studies did not specify a site of pain [76][77][78][79], two studies only examined multisite pain [80,81], and three studies examined pain in children [82][83][84].…”

Evaluation of the Association between Lumbar Spinal Stenosis and Lumbar Subcutaneous Fat Tissue Thickness by MRI: A Novel Perspective

“…1,2 Various studies have been published regarding the association between degenerative spinal diseases and the parameters, such as the body mass index (BMI), para-spinal fat content, and epidural lipomatosis. 1,[3][4][5][6][7][8] Since the vertebral column together with its muscles and ligaments is the load-bearing structure of the body, any increase in the load will probably affect its fate. BMI is a relatively simple measurement but still requires the patient's weight and height values to be calculated, which might add limitations to a retrospective study.…”