Age, body mass index, and gender differences in sacroiliac joint pathology

To evaluate the correlation between age, gender, and body mass index as they relate to sacroiliac joint pathology diagnosed by dual comparative local anesthetic blocks.

This was a retrospective review of patients at a university spine center from August 2001 until August 2004.

One hundred fifty-eight patients underwent sacroiliac joint (SIJ) injections with average symptom duration of 34.0 mos. Of those patients, 26.6% were found to have SIJ pain by dual injections. The average age of this group was 53.3 yrs old; for those who had negative injections, it was 46.8 yrs old (P = 0.0025). The body mass indexes for the positive and negative SIJ pain groups were 30.2 and 29.3 kg/m2 (P = 0.40), respectively. The gender makeup of the positive and negative groups showed 64.3% female and 62.1% female (P = 0.85), respectively. Smoking tobacco status was not statistically significant between the two groups, with 29.6% of smokers having a positive block and 26.1% having a negative block (P = 0.35).

Our results suggest an age difference for those patients who have SIJ pain. These patients tend to be older than those without. Gender, age, and smoking status were not found to correlate with SIJ pathology.