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The burden of scoliosis: a nationwide database study on demographics, incidence, and surgical rates

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Abstract

Introduction

Scoliosis is characterized as a three-dimensional deformity of the spine, affected by variety of factors, including biological, mechanical, hormonal, and genetics.

Methods

Our study's primary objective was to delineate the demographics, incidence, and prevalence of scoliosis from a nationwide perspective, analyze the surgical intervention rates, with the aim of offering more insightful guidance to orthopedic physicians. This nationwide cohort study was conducted from digital database for healthcare information management. Relevant population data, for children under 18 years old, was extracted from the official government census within the period of January 2015 to December 2022. Utilizing diagnostic code of M41 [Scoliosis] was used to define the patient pool from ICD-10. Demographic variables, type of operations (posterior only, anterior only, or combined), and complications were documented. Incidence and prevalence values were calculated using population figures and case numbers.

Result

There were 276,521 patients with an average incidence of 129 per 100,000. Frequency of females was 1.45 times greater than that of males (p < 0.001). A total of 10,417 surgeries were performed in 10,311 patients during the inspection period (3.8% of all cases). Posterior fusion was by far the most common surgical approach (n = 10.111; 97%) followed by anterior fusion (n = 200; 1,9%).

Conclusions

Our findings reveal a significant increase in the average incidence of scoliosis diagnosis, rising from 107 per 100,000 individuals in 2015 to 161 per 100,000 in 2022. Scoliosis now impacts an estimated 1.2% of children and adolescents in Turkey. The risk is 1.45 times higher in females than in males.

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Acknowledgements

All authors had made appropriate contributions to the conception and design of the study.

Funding

No funding has been received for this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Orthopedics and Traumatology Department, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Yavuz Sağlam

  2. Faculty of Medicine, Ankara Onchology Training and Research Hospital, Health Sciences University, Ankara, Turkey

    Izzet Bingöl

  3. Ankara Bilkent City Hospital, Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Health Sciences University, Ankara, Turkey

    Niyazi Erdem Yaşar

  4. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biostatistics, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey

    Ebru Dumlupınar

  5. Ministry of Health, General Directorate of Health Information Systems, Ankara, Turkey

    Naim Ata

  6. General Directorate of Health Information Systems, Ankara, Turkey

    M. Mahir Ülgü

  7. Deputy Minister, Ministry of Health, Ankara, Turkey

    Şuayip Birinci

  8. Faculty of Medicine, Ankara Bilkent City Hospital, Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Health Sciences University, Ankara, Turkey

    Güzelali Özdemir

  9. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Inonü University, Malatya, Turkey

    Okan Aslantürk

  10. Ortopediatri Istanbul, Academy of Children Orthopaedics, Istanbul, Turkey

    Barış Görgün

Authors
  1. Yavuz Sağlam
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  2. Izzet Bingöl
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  3. Niyazi Erdem Yaşar
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  4. Ebru Dumlupınar
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  5. Naim Ata
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  6. M. Mahir Ülgü
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  7. Şuayip Birinci
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  8. Güzelali Özdemir
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  9. Okan Aslantürk
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  10. Barış Görgün
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Consortia

Turkish Ministry of Health, Pediatric Orthopaedic Scientific Survey Group

Contributions

YS, NEY, and ED performed the design of the study, statistical analysis, development of checklists, interpretation of data, writing of the article, drafting and revision of the article. YS and IB: did acquisition of data and co-writing of the article. NA, MMÜ, SB contributed to the acquisition and analysis of the data. YS, OA, BG, and GÖ contributed to the interpretation of the data and design of the research. All authors critically revised the manuscript, agree to be fully accountable for ensuring the integrity and accuracy of the work, and read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yavuz Sağlam.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethics approval

This study was conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki and received approval from the Turkish Ministry of Health with a waiver of informed consent for retrospective data analysis and health information privacy law. (ID;95741342-020/27112019).

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Sağlam, Y., Bingöl, I., Yaşar, N.E. et al. The burden of scoliosis: a nationwide database study on demographics, incidence, and surgical rates. Eur Spine J 33, 655–662 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-023-07967-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-023-07967-z

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