Characteristics of sagittal spinopelvic alignment in asymptomatic Han Chinese adults

The aim of the present study was to investigate patterns of spine sagittal alignment in asymptotic patients using radiological analysis. A number of studies focused on investigating normal patterns of spinal and pelvic alignment in Chinese populations, while few have evaluated Caucasian and other Asian populations. A total of 10 relevant pelvic and spinal parameters, including pelvic incidence (PI), pelvic tilt (PT), sacral slope (SS), lumbar lordosis (LL), cervical lordosis (CL), thoracic kyphosis (TK), sagittal vertical axis (SVA), lumbopelvic lordosis angle (PR-T12), spino-sacral angle (SSA) and sacral pelvic angle (SPA), were evaluated in asymptomatic Chinese adults from Beijing, aged 21-65 years. Correlations among these parameters, as well as between these parameters and age, and associations with gender and body mass index (BMI) were assessed using Pearson's correlation analysis. A total of 39 males and 46 females, aged 50.9±13.2 and 41.8±13.6 years, respectively, were enrolled in the present study. The results of PI, PT, SS, LL, TK, CL, SVA, PR-T12, SSA and SPA values suggested that age was positively correlated with TK, CL and SVA, while it was negatively correlated with LL, PR-T12 and SSA. SSA and SVA were revealed to differ significantly between sexes. It was also demonstrated that LL and TK may be associated with BMI. In conclusion, the results of the present study indicate that spinopelvic parameters in the asymptomatic Chinese Han population (in Beijing) are correlated with age and may be associated with individuals' ethnicity, sex and BMI. The results of the current study may provide a basis for the restoration of LL or similar diseases.