LATE-ONSET IDIOPATHIC SCOLIOSIS IN CHILDREN 6 TO 14 YEARS OLD - A CROSS-SECTIONAL PREVALENCE STUDY

We performed a point-prevalence survey of 15,799 children, six to four teen gears old, who formed part of a prospective longitudinal study. O ur purpose was to defect the prevalence of scoliosis and to investigat e associated factors, On the basis of the initial screening, 934 child ren (5.9 per cent) were referred for additional clinical and radiograp hic examinations; 896 children returned for this second evaluation, A lateral spinal curve with a Cobb angle of more than 5 degrees was seen in 431 children (2.7 per cent of the 15,799 children), Only seventy-s ix children (0.5 per cent) had a curve Bat met our definition of idiop athic scoliosis (a curve of more than 10 degrees with concordant apica l rotation), The point-prevalence rate was higher in girls, and if inc reased with age. The rate was 0.1 per cent (four of 5246) in the age-g roup of six to eight years, 0.3 per cent (sixteen of 5831) ill the age -group of nine to eleven years, and 1.2 per cent (fifty-six of 4722) i n the age-group of twelve to fourteen years old, with allowance for th e fact that different definitions of idiopathic scoliosis have been us ed in earlier studies, our results suggest that the natural history of idiopathic scoliosis may be becoming more benign spontaneously.