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An index of kyphosis was estimated with a surveyor's flexicurve. A further index measured wedging in vertebral bodies in lateral chest radiographs by expressing the sum of vertical posterior heights of the lower six thoracic vertebral bodies and discs as a percentage of the corresponding anterior heights. Cross-sectional data showed that both indices increased with increasing age in each sex. Longitudinal studies confirmed that the increases were significant but varied widely in size. Although cross-sectional data suggested greater increase in kyphosis with increasing age in women compared with men, longitudinal measurements over five years did not show this. The index of wedging explained 42% and 48% of the variation in the index of kyphosis in men and in women, respectively. Additional effects due to age, detected in women only, added a further 4% to the explained variation, possibly from ageing of soft tissues. The relationship between the indices, and the additional effect of age in women, persisted in five year survivors.
Milne et al. (Sat,) studied this question.