Reference intervals of spinal mobility measures in normal individuals: the MOBILITY study.

Area of Science:

• Rheumatology and Biomechanics
• Clinical Assessment and Reference Standards

Background:

• Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) assessment requires reliable spinal mobility measures.
• Establishing normative data is crucial for interpreting patient mobility.
• Previous studies lacked comprehensive reference intervals for diverse age groups.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish reference intervals (RIs) for spinal mobility measures in healthy adults.
• To investigate the influence of age, height, and gender on spinal mobility.
• To provide clinicians with age-specific RIs for assessing axSpA patients.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study (MOBILITY) involving 393 healthy individuals aged 20-69 years.
• Stratified recruitment by gender, age (10-year bands), and height (10 cm bands).
• Assessment of eleven distinct spinal mobility measures.

Main Results:

• All spinal mobility measures demonstrated a decline with increasing age.
• Age-specific RIs and percentiles (5th-95th) were derived for each mobility measure.
• Gender-specific RIs were not necessary after age adjustment; some measures required height adjustment.

Conclusions:

• Age-specific reference intervals and percentile curves for spinal mobility were successfully generated.
• These RIs can serve as benchmarks for 'normal' versus 'abnormal' mobility in axSpA.
• The derived data supports objective assessment of spinal mobility in clinical practice.