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Abdominal Obesity and Disc Degeneration
The Study: Association of abdominal obesity with lumbar disc degeneration–a magnetic resonance imaging study
The Facts:
a. The first thing the observant reader will notice is that this is a very similar study, by the very same authors, as the study we reported on in the last issue.
b. In this study they obviously used the same 558 subjects but they looked at some different (although highly related tests) done on these subjects.
c. In this study they found that abdominal obesity on the MRI as well as waist circumference was associated with disc degeneration in 21 year old males but not in females.
d. This is a different twist on the same subject that they reported on in a different journal and which we reviewed last issue. So the question is should the authors have gotten two studies out of one group of subjects.
e. This isn’t an easy question to answer and I am bringing it up mostly for the non researchers who read this news letter. Sometimes it can be very difficult to look at all the findings in a study in one article.
f. If this is the case, it may be much better to break this findings down into smaller more manageable bites so the material may be covered in depth without unnecessary complication.
g. If you will recall the previous study upon which we reported, you will note that they looked at smoking and physical activity in addition to BMI.
h. So this present article does report on the findings in a different manner.
i. Conclusion, if the editors of both journals are happy then great. The editors are the final arbitrators of all these types of decisions and whether we agree or disagree with their final decisions it is their journal not ours.
j. In this case I think that separating this data into two studies did make it somewhat easier to digest for those who are not researchers and for those for whom this is not their field of expertise.
Dr. Lane says: Disc degeneration is associated with abdominal obesity on MRI and waist circumference.
| Reference: Takatalo J, Karppinen J, Taimela S, Niinimaki J, Laitnen J, Sequeiros RB, Samartzis D, Korpelainen R, Nayha S, Remes J, Tervonen O. Association of abdominal obesity with lumbar disc degeneration–a magnetic resonance imaging study. PloS One. 2013;8(2):e56244. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056244. Epub 2013 Feb 13
Link to Abstract: |
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