Degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS) is one of the major causes of low back pain among the elderly. This condition is characterized by degenerative changes of the spine which result in the forward slippage of all or part of one vertebra on the one below. The initial clinical symptom is low back pain which may progress to chronic back and leg pain. Very little is known about the burden of disease that DS imposes on the population. Typically DS occurs in persons over 40 years of age and is five times more prevalent in women than in men; black women are reported to be especially susceptible to this condition (prevalence about 30%). The overall goal of this research is to investigate the prevalence and etiology of DS among elderly black women (aged 70 years or more) living in the community.
The specific aims of this research are to: 1) determine the prevalence of DS based on radiographic data; 2) evaluate the relationship between clinical symptoms and radiographic evidence of DS; 3) identify the correlates of DS; 4) measure and describe the vertebral dimensions in black women; and 5) evaluate the relationship between vertebral dimensions at a given spinal level and presence of DS. A total of 600 elderly black women are currently being recruited across four geographic locations (Baltimore, Minneapolis, Portland and Pittsburgh) under the aegis of the multicenter Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (SOF). This application is to obtain and assess x-rays for the black participants and to collect information on back pain and function. The radiographs will be digitized and assessed for vertebral slippage in the lumbar spine; intervertebral spaces and vertebral dimensions will also be measured. This new data will then be merged with the databases containing the information collected during the regular SOF clinic visits (demographic, lifestyle, clinical, functional, medication use, medical history, bone mineral density). The investigators state that this methodological approach is an efficient way to obtain new information about spinal problems and related symptoms in community-living elderly black women.
