Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis In Ibadan, Nigeria

Objectives: The prevalence of idiopathic scoliosis which accounts for most cases of structural scoliosis not due to diseases or injury to bones among adolescent Nigerians has not been reported. This study was designed to provide preliminary data on the prevalence of idiopathic scoliosis among adolescent students of selected secondary schools in Ibadan municipality.Design: Cross-sectional survey.Setting: Nine secondary schools in Ibadan, the largest and the third most-populated city in Nigeria.Participants: They were 999 students (514 boys, 485 girls) aged 10-20 years (X=14.14±1.69years) sampled from nine purposively selected secondary schools in Ibadan.Intervention: All subjects had an initial visual screening of the spine but those who demonstrated visually recognizable lateral deviation of the spine also had secondary screening to ascertain the presence of rib hump, shoulder elevation, trunk decompensation and location of the scoliosis curve. Data were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis.Results: Fifty-three (5.3%) of the subjects had visually recognizable scoliosis. The male to female prevalence ratio was 1.5:1. All but one subject with scoliosis were right handed while 26 (51%), 23 (49%) and 4 (7.5%) of them had right thoracic, left thoracic and left lumbar scoliosis respectively. Twenty five subjects (2.5%) were twins but 3 (12.0%) of them had scoliosis.Conclusions: The prevalence of idiopathic scoliosis among adolescents in this study is similar to rates reported among similar age groups in other parts of the world. The finding suggests a need for a national survey of idiopathic scoliosis and institutionalization of the school screening program in Nigeria.