A University of Iowa study based on fifty years of data finds a medical condition that causes curvature of the spine has -little- impact on the person’s longevity, despite many assumptions to the contrary. Study author Doctor Stuart Weinstein, a U-of-I professor of orthopedic surgery, says the most common form of scoliosis is not a life-ending or radical diagnosis.It effects one-to-three percent of children in the at-risk category of ages 10 to 16. Dr. Weinstein says very few of them will ever need treatment, and for most people, scoliosis has no effect on their life whatsoever. He says the study involved people who were patients diagnosed with scoliosis at the U-of-I in the 1930s and ’40s who were studied over their lifetimes. They functioned extremely well, married, had children, had normal employment, did normal recreational and social activities. He says the only real differences were that patients did have increased back pain and cosmetic concerns about the deformity scoliosis causes. Weinstein says the results of this study do -not- mean adolescents diagnosed with scoliosis should ignore it and shun treatment. He says it is just a benchmark for researchers to compare against untreated patients. He says all patients with the disease need to be seen by a knowledgeable physician. The U-of-I study is being published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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