Investigation on the Prevalence of Scoliosis among Ten Years Old Female Students of Khorramabad Schools in 2004-2005

The term «scoliosis» denotes lateral curvature of the spine. The deformity may be structural; implying a permanent change in the bones or soft tissues, or it may be no more than a temporary disturbance produced by reflex or postural activity of the spinal muscles. This skeletal disorder is one of the important health problems in school ages that are much more common in females gender. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of scoliosis among 10 years old female students of Khorramabad schools.

It was a cross – sectional study which evaluated 768 ten-year old female students of Khorramabad School who were selected by the random clustering sampling method. After determination of samples and obtaining medical history through a questionnaire, physical examination was performed by the plumb line and then in the cases that had no signs of deviation, in this portion of examination, the second stage of examination was performed by the adams test. Finally the screened cases were referred to shohada hospital clinic. And thoracolumbar X-ray was obtained and the angle of deviation was measured using cobb's method.

The number of screened cases was 97(12.6%) and after radiology was done, 30 were identified as being afflicted with scoliosis. Finally the prevalence of scoliosis in this study was 3.9 percent of which (3.25%) had cobb's angle below ten degree and only five cases (0.65%) had cobb's angle above ten degree. In this study there was statistical significant difference between student that perform regular aerobic exercise against those who did not perform this exercise.

According to this study a partly high prevalence of scoliosis existed among our female school children. This shows the necessity of school screening programs, because by early diagnosis of scoliosis and conservative treatment (by using brace), one may be prevent scoliosis's progression and finally the appearance of complication.