Incidence of scoliosis among junior high school students in Zhongshan city, Guangdong and the possible importance of decreased miR-30e expression.

Objective: We investigated scoliosis incidence among junior high school students in Zhongshan city, Guangdong, China and the expression of miR-30e among those with scoliosis.

Methods: A total 41,258 students were included. From July 2015 to December 2017, all students underwent screening including routine observation of the standing and sitting posture, Adam's forward bend test, dorsal tilt angle measurement, and X-ray examination. Age, sex, height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) were recorded. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to assess miR-30e expression among students with scoliosis and 200 healthy students.

Results: Overall, 743 students were diagnosed with scoliosis, with an incidence rate of 1.80%. A total 646 (86.9%) students were diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis, 38 (5.1%) with congenital scoliosis, and 59 (7.9%) with other scoliosis types. Compared with healthy students, height was significantly greater whereas weight and BMI were significantly lower among students with scoliosis, and expression of miR-30e was significantly lower. However, no significant difference was found in height, weight, BMI, and mean Cobb angle between high/low miR-30e groups.

Conclusion: The incidence rate for scoliosis was 1.80%, Compared with healthy students, those with scoliosis were taller, had lower weight and BMI, and miR-30e expression was significantly downregulated.