Prevalence of Spondylolysis and Spondylolisthesis in Patients Afflicted with Chronic Back Pain in Babol City, Iran, during 2012 and 2013

Background and Aim: Chronic back pain is one of the most important reasons of individuals’ referring to clinic, so that no determined  recognition is posed in considerable number of such individuals. Spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis are two important pathologies that people might be afflicted with for years but they might be unaware of it. Therefore, such diseases may account for chronic back pain. This study aims at analyzing prevalence of these two injuries in individuals afflicted with chronic back pain. Methods and Materials/Patients: This has been a cross-sectional study for two years on individuals who referred to our clinic with complaining about chronic back pain with taken MRI and radiography of spine for diagnosis of their problem. Information related to current pathologies in imaging was extracted and registered from an interpretation of physician and radiologist report.  Results: In this study, 289 out of 692 studied individuals were male. Spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis were observed in 8.6% and 13% of them, respectively. Prevalence of spondylolisthesis in women (18%) was significantly more than that in men especially by aging. There was no statistically significant relationship between spondyloysis and spondylolisthesis. Conclusion: Spondylolisthesis and spondylolysis are seen among the main reasons of chronic back pain in aged women with prevalence of 13% and 8.6%, respectively.