The potential effect of type 2 diabetes mellitus on lumbar disc degeneration: a retrospective single-center study

Abstract

Abstract Background Diabetes mellitus (DM) and low back pain which is mainly caused by degeneration of the intervertebral discs (IVDs) both are major public health problem worldwide. The present study was designed to investigate the association between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) and severity of lumbar disc degeneration (LDD). Methods We retrospectively reviewed patients with low back pain visiting our spine clinic in 2014. Low back pain patients all have the lumbar MRI imaging and no previous treatment. One hundred fifty patients without T2D (group A) and 622 patients with T2D meeting the criteria were included. Sex, age, body mass index (BMI), high blood pressure (HBP), history of smoking, alcohol use, and duration of T2D were recorded. Patients with T2D were assigned to a well-controlled group (group B, n = 380) and a bad-controlled group (group C, n = 242). In group B, T2D duration of 148 patients was ≤ 10 years (group B1) and 232 patients > 10 years (group B2). In group C, T2D duration of 100 patients was ≤ 10 years (group C1) and 142 patients > 10 years (group C2). The severity of LDD was evaluated using the five-level Pfirrmann grading system. Data were analyzed using SPSS 19.0. Results Demographic data except age showed no difference among groups (P > 0.5). Compared to patients without T2D, patients with T2D showed more severe disc degeneration after removal of age effects (P 0.05); groups B2, C1, and C2 showed higher average Pfirrmann scores than group A (P 10 years and a bad control of T2D were risk factors for LDD. The longer T2D duration was, the more severe disc degeneration would be.

Keywords

• Type 2 diabetes mellitus
• Disc degeneration
• Pfirrmann score