Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• NISSINEN, MAUNU
• HELIÖVAARA, MARKKU
• SEITSAMO, JORMA
• POUSSA, MIKKO

Titel

Left Handedness and Risk of Thoracic Hyperkyphosis in Prepubertal Schoolchildren

Ist Teil von

• International journal of epidemiology, 1995-12, Vol.24 (6), p.1178-1181

Ort / Verlag

Oxford: Oxford University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

1995

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Background Hand dominance and spinal posture were studied for their prediction of the development of thoracic hyper-kyphosis during the puberial growth spurt. Methods The cohort consisted of all the fourth-grade school children of the Western School District of Helsinki, Finland, in the spring of 1986. They were examined annually from the mean age of 10.8 to 13.8 years. Handedness was determined at the baseline examination by observing the hand with which the child was writing. Anthropometric measurements, posture and growth were followed-up annually. A lateral standing radiograph was undertaken in those children who had pronounced thoracic kyphosis in spinal pantography. Kyphotic angles ≥45° were considered hyperkyphotic. Results In both girls and boys, left handedness was found to be a powerful determinant of hyperkyphosis. In left handed children the odds ratio (OR), adjusted for baseline spinal measurements, was 4.11 (95% confidence interval [Cl]: 1.39–12.13). Hump size measured by the forward bending test also predicted significantly the development of thoracic hyperkyphosis(OR = 1.48; 95% Cl: 1.23–1.76, per one degree). Conclusions Left handedness may be a risk factor for thoracic hyperkyphosis during the pubertal growth spurt.