Risk for cervical herniated intervertebral disc in dentists: a nationwide population-based study
Abstract
Background
Prolonged static postures
(PSPs) may predispose dentists to develop cervical herniated
intervertebral disc (C-HIVD); however, there is limited evidence
supporting this in the literature thus far. We conducted this study to
fit the data gap.
Methods
We conducted a retrospective
nationwide population-based study using the Taiwan National Health
Insurance Research Database to identify 10,930 dentists, an identical
number of age- and sex-matched participants from the general population,
and 73,718 other health care providers (HCPs, non-dentists).
Comparisons for the risk of developing C-HIVD between dentists and the
general population, and between dentists and other HCPs were performed
by tracing their medical histories between 2007 and 2011.
Results
Dentists had a cumulative
incidence rate of 1.1% for C-HIVD during the 5-year follow-up period.
Overall, there was no difference of the risk for C-HIVD between dentists
and the general population after adjusting for hypertension,
hyperlipidemia, liver disease, mental disorders, diabetes mellitus,
coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,
malignancy, stroke, and renal disease (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 1.2,
95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.9–1.6). However, stratified analysis
showed that younger dentists (≤ 34 years) had a trend of higher risk for
C-HIVD than members of the younger general population (AOR: 1.9, 95%
CI: 0.9–4.1). There was no difference found between dentists and other
HCPs (AOR: 0.9, 95% CI: 0.8–1.1).
Conclusion
Younger dentists had a trend of higher risk of developing C-HIVD than members of the general population.
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