Adolescent cervical disc degeneration in MRI does not predict adult headache or neck pain: A 5-year follow-up of adolescents with and without headache

Abstract

Mild disc degeneration at the age of 17 years was common, but was not associated with either frequent or intensive headache or neck pain at the age of 22 years. Conclusion: Mild degenerative changes of the cervical spine in 17-year-old adolescents cannot be regarded as a cause of future headache or neck pain.

Do findings identified on magnetic resonance imaging predict future neck pain? A systematic review

“…Agreement between the 2 independent reviewers was high (Kappa=0.67) with disagreements on 5 studies resolved through discussion and consensus with a third author (MH). There were eight studies that appeared to meet the inclusion criteria but did not present adequate data [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. We contacted the authors and three provided the data required [30][31][32].…”

“…There were eight studies that appeared to meet the inclusion criteria but did not present adequate data [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. We contacted the authors and three provided the data required [30][31][32]. Twelve studies met all the inclusion criteria and were included in the review [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] (Figure 1).…”

“…We contacted the authors and three provided the data required [30][31][32]. Twelve studies met all the inclusion criteria and were included in the review [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] (Figure 1).…”

“…Disagreements on a limited number of data points from 3 studies were resolved through discussion and consensus with a third author (MH). Eight studies included samples of patients with current neck pain [30,31,[33][34][35][36]40,41], two studies included a mixed sample [32,37] and two studies included participants without current neck pain [38,39]. The samples of participants were largely drawn from emergency departments (ED), local GPs, and volunteers in the community, or recruited through local hospital wards.…”

“…There was a large age range across the studies (10 to 83 years) and the follow-up times varied from one week to 10 years. Overall 9 studies included participants with WAD [30,31,[33][34][35][36][37]40,41] and only one study included participants with non-specific neck pain [32].…”