Findings based on follow-up from the Framingham Heart Study
FRIDAY, Aug. 25, 2017 (HealthDay News) — In healthy, relatively high-functioning older adults, kyphosis severity is not associated with subsequent physical function, according to a study published online Aug. 21 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Amanda L. Lorbergs, Ph.D., from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues evaluated thoracic kyphosis among Framingham Heart Study Offspring and Third Generation cohort members who had computed tomography (CT) between 2002 and 2005 and physical function assessed at a mean of 3.4 years later (1,100 participants; mean age, 61 years).
The researchers found that thoracic kyphosis was not associated with physical function in women or men, and these results were consistent in both those younger than 65 and those aged 65 and older. Walking speed was similar in adults younger than 65 with and without severe kyphosis (women, quartile 4 versus quartiles 1 to 3, P = 0.69; men, P = 0.39).
“Individuals at risk of functional decline cannot be targeted based on supine CT thoracic curvature measures alone,” the authors write.
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