Disc Degeneration

Background and Aim: Previous studies have reported the important effect of age, sex, heredity, and occupational status on intervertebral degenerative disc diseases, which are among the most important causes of low back pain. However, their results are not always so conclusive. This study was performed to investigate the demographic characteristics and family history of lumbar problems in patients with lumbar degenerative disc diseases due to causes other than acute trauma. Methods and Materials/Patients: This cross-sectional descriptive study included patients without acute trauma who were candidates for surgery of lumbar degenerative disc diseases from 2017 to 2018 in the only state hospital admitting these patients in Rasht, Iran. The data related to the disease were obtained from the patients' medical records. Their demographic characteristics and family history of lumbar vertebrae diseases in their relatives were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire through face-to-face interview by the researcher. The data were analyzed using SPSS V. 16 software. Descriptive statistics and the chi-square test were conducted at a significance level of 0.05. Results: More than half of the patients were in their 4th to 6th decades of life, and the number of men was 1.8 times as women. The frequency of herniated discs was more than that of both spinal canal stenosis and spondylolisthesis, and most people had no history of low back trauma. The duration of disease in 73% of the patients was more than 1 year and the mean duration was about 4.5 years. More than half of the patients reported problems with the lumbar vertebrae in at least 1 of their first-degree relatives. About one-third of the patients reported a history of vertebrae surgery in their first-degree relatives and the maximum number of reported surgeries in 1 family was 5. Most of the patients were low-literate and illiterate, and about one-third of the patients were workers/farmers. More than one-third of them were housewives and the number of patients working in administrative and driving jobs was very low. There was no significant relationship between study variables and the type of degenerative problems of the lumbar vertebrae. Conclusion: These findings showed similarities with previous studies in terms of age groups, occupational status, and a history of family lumbar problems in patients with lumbar degenerative disc diseases.