A new study published in Spine examines the connection between BMI and the risk for developing lumbar spinal stenosis.
The researchers examined the Swedish nationwide occupational surveillance program for construction workers. There were 364,467 patients included in the study from 1971 to 1992. There were 65 percent of the people who were normal weight, 29 percent who were overweight, 5 percent who were obese and 2 percent who were underweight.
Here are five key notes:
1. There were 2,381 participants diagnosed with lumbar spinal stenosis out of the 11,190 people who completed follow up. The average follow up was 31 years.
2. The obese workers reported an incident rate ratio for lumbar spinal stenosis of 2.18 compared with normal weight individuals.
3. The overweight workers reported an incident rate ratio for lumbar spinal stenosis of 1.68 compared with normal weight individuals.
4. The workers who were underweight halved their lumbar spinal stenosis risk.
5. The researchers concluded "obesity might be a novel explanation for the increased number of patients with clinical LSS."