Lumbar Vertebral Degenerative and Stenosis Changes in Parkinson's Disease: A Comparative Cross-sectional Study

Background Lumbar spinal degenerative and stenotic changes in Parkinson’s disease (PD) may contribute to limitations in physical activity, resulting in a worsened disease course. While studies have investigated vertebral fractures in PD, the pattern of lumbar spine degeneration and stenosis changes remains largely unexplored. This cross-sectional study compares degenerative and stenotic changes in lumbar spine of PD and control subjects. Methods This study included 82 people with PD (PwPD) and 98 age-matched control subjects (CS). Degenerative changes (disc and facet joint degeneration) and stenotic changes (foraminal and central canal stenosis) were assessed using established grading systems. Results PwPD exhibited significantly lower scores for facet joint degeneration and foraminal stenosis compared to CS. This could be due to a lower rate of intense physical activity in these patients. However, a significant positive correlation between the overall extent of degeneration and the total score of stenosis was observed in both groups. This positive correlation was represented in a regression model for both groups. Linear regression models of both PD and control group showed a significantly lower amount of predicted total stenosis score (based on total degeneration score) in PD subjects. Conclusions Our findings suggest that PwPD may exhibit lower levels of some degenerative changes compared to CS. The positive correlation between degeneration and stenosis appears similar in both groups. Understanding the pattern of vertebral degenerative and stenotic changes is important to help the PD patient improve the quality of physical activity, further affecting the disease course in these patients.