Variation characteristics of cervical sagittal parameters between patients with nonspecific neck pain and patients with radiculotic and cervical spondylotic myelopathy: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the variation characteristics of cervical sagittal position parameters and the correlation among nonspecific neck pain(NS-NP), cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR), and cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). Methods: We retrospectively included 236 patients divided into three groups, NS-NP, CSR and CSM, and collected general information and cervical sagittal parameters of such kind patients. The characteristics of the variation of parameters between the size of these parameters and gender differences were analyzed. Pearson’s or Spearman’s correlation was applied to analyze the association of cervical sagittal parameters of all patients between the three groups. Results: There exist obvious differences in age and sex among the three groups (P<0.001), among which the NS-NP group was the youngest, and NS-NP was more common in women. The parameters of cervical sagittal position were obviously different among the three groups (P<0.05). Pearson’s or Spearman’s correlation result showed that the C2-C7 Cobb angle was negatively associated with C2-C7 SVA, and the C2-C7 Cobb angle, T1s were negatively associated with the SCA angle. There was a positive correlation between the C2-C7 Cobb angle and C7s, C2-C7 SVA and T1s, C2-C7 SVA and SCA, and C7s and T1s. Conclusion: This study found that patients with CSR and CSM had higher SCA and C2-C7 SVA, and smaller C7s, T1s, and C2-C7 Cobb angles than patients with NS-NP; however, there has no obvious difference in sagittal parameters between the two types of cervical spondylosis. The SCA, C2-C7 SVA, C7s, T1s, and C2-C7 Cobb angles all had a strong correlation. Women were more common and had greater SCA than men in NS-NP patients, and women had smaller C7s and T1s than men.