Prevalence of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China: a cross-sectional study

Purpose This study is a large-scale screening supported by government departments to investigate the prevalence of scoliosis in Shijiazhuang.Methods In this cross-sectional study, all students underwent body posture evaluation and the Adam's forward flexure test to examine the back, and also underwent radiographic evaluation when scoliosis was suspected.Results In total, 181,935 students participated in the research, of which 289 students were diagnosed with scoliosis, with a prevalence of 2.5%, significantly higher in female (3.01%) than in male children (1.63%) (P < 0.001). Most of the patients (79.5%) had a Cobb angle from 10(degrees) to 19(degrees).The mean Cobb angle of scoliosis was positively associated with age. The prevalence of a single curve (75.4%) was significantly higher than double curves (23.2%) and triple curves (1.38%). The percentage of scoliosis in which the thoracolumbar segment was involved (46.4%) was significantly higher than that of the single thoracic scoliosis (31.8%) and single lumbar scoliosis (21.8%).Conclusions The prevalence of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis in XXX was high (2.50%). It is necessary to strengthen the education of adolescent scoliosis, and improve the awareness and attention of social to scoliosis.