Progression of lumbar disc herniations over an eight-year period in a group of adult Danes from the general population – a longitudinal MRI study using quantitative measures

Table 4 Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between size of LDH, dural sac area and disc height

		β-coefficient (95% CI)	P-value
LDH→Disc height
Cross-sectional		0.353 (0.142; 0.564)	0.001
Four-year change		−0.413 (−0.603; −0.224)	0.000
Eight-year change		−0.504 (−0.807; −0.201)	0.001
LDH→Dural sac
Cross-sectional		−0.254 (−0.515; 0.007)	0.057
Four-year change		−0.130 (−0.262; 0.003)	0.055
Eight-year change		−0.354 (−0.581; −0.128)	0.003
Disc height→Dural sac
Cross-sectional		0.282 (0.158; 0.406)	0.000
Four-year change		−0.041 (−0.102; 0.020)	0.189
Eight-year change		0.005 (−0.112; 0.122)	0.935
LDH & disc height (multivariable regression) → Dural sac
Cross-sectional	LDH	−0.364 (−0.621; −0.107)	0.006
Cross-sectional	Disc height	0.312 (0.187; 0.436)	0.000
Four-year change	LDH	−0.112 (−0.253; 0.028)	0.114
Four-year change	Disc height	−0.240 (−0.088; 0.040)	0.462
Eight-year change	LDH	−0.405 (−0.645; −0.165)	0.001
Eight-year change	Disc height	0.072 (−0.045; 0.189)	0.222

Presented as regression coefficients for sizes of LDH with corresponding 95% confidence intervals, for both univariate and multiple linear regression. Significant associations are shown in bold

ISSN: 1471-2474