Association of estrogen receptor gene polymorphisms and idiopathic scoliosis: a meta-analysis

Idiopathic scoliosis (IS) is considered to be a multifactorial disease. There is some controversy regarding whether estrogen receptor (ESR) gene is associated with IS susceptibility. A systematic search in PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane CENTERAL database until the end of October 2015 were carried out. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using random or fixed effects model. Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to evaluate the methodological quality, and Stata 11.0 was used to analyze data. The associations between XbaI, PvuII, AlwNI polymorphisms and IS susceptibility were investigated. Seven eligible case-control studies were included in our meta-analysis. The final results showed that no significant difference was detected in all genetic models in any of the three polymorphisms. In conclusion, this meta-analysis found a lack of significant association between any of the three estrogen receptor gene polymorphisms and IS risk. Additional high quality studies are still necessary to assist with this finding.