Epidemiology

Your Organisational Guidance

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Aspecifieke nekpijn: diagnose en behandelingPublished by: KCELast published: 2013Douleurs cervicales aspécifiques : diagnostic et traitementPublished by: KCELast published: 2013

Cervical spine pathology is becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide in light of an ageing population, and is associated with significant morbidity.[4]

In 2017, it was estimated that more than a quarter of a billion people globally experienced neck pain, with an estimated incidence rate of over 65 million new cases per year worldwide.[5]​ Population-based studies show that approximately 80% to 90% of people have disc degeneration on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by the age of 50 years.[6][7]

Between 2006 and 2012 in the US, it was estimated that the annual incidence of cervical spine degeneration increased by approximately 1 per 1000 people in one retrospective study which included 3,156,215 people​.[8]​ One narrative review reported that the estimated incidence of degenerative cervical myelopathy is at least 41 per million people in North America.[9][10]​​

The estimated incidence of cervical spine radiculopathy was reported as ranging from 0.832 to 1.79 per 1000 person years, with prevalence ranging from 1.21 to 5.8 per 1000 person years, by one systematic review.[11]

Evidence suggests that degenerative cervical spine disease is more prevalent in women than in men with one retrospective study reporting incidence rates of 37.6 per 1000 in women compared with 25.2 per 1000 in men.[8]

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