Frequency Evaluation of Early Pregnancy in Spondylolisthesis: A Cross Sectional Study on Iranian Females

Spondylolisthesis is a common skeletal disorder that is rather prevalent among human beings occurring at various areas of spinal cord particularly with higher prevalence in lumbosacral area. There are several risk factors contributing to the occurrence of spondylolisthesis especially in the lumbosacral area including multiple pregnancies, early age pregnancy, etc. The current study aimed at investigating the pregnancy history of females afflicted with spondylolisthesis and probing the relationship of such factors with spondylolisthesis.
Females with low back pain, afflicted with spondylolisthesis, and diagnosed based on the medical scanning were included in the study. The exclusion criteria comprised affliction with acute diseases, rheumatologic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, and history of direct trauma to their cords. The patients were then, examined and the related questionnaires were filled in by the authors. The results were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0.
A total of 113 females with the mean age of 53.79 (SD = 10.79) years were studied; 74.3 % of the patients had a history of pregnancy prior to 20 years old. The spondylolisthesis most commonly observed in L4-L5 intervertebral area (49.6%), and grade I had the highest frequency (82.3%).
Early age and multiple pregnancies were considered important risk factors increasing the likelihood of developing spondylolisthesis. Provision of appropriate education about time for the first pregnancy and number of pregnancies, training, and raising public awareness can help to reduce this risk factor.