To the editor

摘要

On the basis of T1p measurement, Zobel et al concluded that young females have more pronounced lumbar disc degeneration than males and a low sensitivity of Pfirrmann grading to detect early disc degeneration. Prior autopsy-based study showed that disc degeneration in men during the second decade of life occurred at an earlier age than in women, with severity of age-matched disc degeneration being greater in men. Another histological study suggested that disc degeneration occurs in men almost a decade earlier than in women. Our main concerns are that in the study by Zobel et al, it is unknown whether male subjects and female subjects were matched for age and features such as physical activity, the scan-rescan reproducibly of their imaging analysis was not reported, and they reported a seemingly high proportion of grade 1 discs. Sex difference in disc morphology was also not reported.