Özet:

Background: Both of Osteoporosis and spinal degeneration are in the etiology of the low back pain in elderly person but their correlation is not entirely clear. The aim of the study is to explore the relationship between osteoporosis and spinal degeneration and effects of osteoporosis on components of spinal degeneration. Material and Method: We studied on eighty two patients older than 55 years old who had low back pain. The patients were divided in two groups which were osteoporotic and osteopenic according to the bone mineral index. Criteria of lumbar degenerative changes were evaluated for all patients, which were disc pathologies, facet arthrosis and morphological changes of vertebral body such as vertebral fracture, osteophytes and concavity index. Grading systems were used for classification of degenerative changes.  Results: Mean BMI of subjects in two groups were not different but a significant difference between groups according to the disc degeneration (p< 0.001), facet arthrosis (p=0,009), discopathy degree (p<0,001) was found. We found that disc degeneration, discopathy and facet arthrosis were negatively correlated with osteoporosis but there was no difference in morphological changes of vertebral body.  Conclusion: The result of the present study showed that osteoporosis could have a protective role against some kind of degenerative changes in vertebral column. It decreased the risk of disc degeneration and facet arthrosis in elderly patient. The formation of vertebral fractures and osteophytes were not always associated with disc degeneration and facet arthrosis in osteoporosis

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