Epidural Fat and Its Association with Pain, Physical Function, and Disability Among Older Adults with Low Back Pain and Controls

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Objective To examine epidural fat and its relationship to pain, physical function, and disability among older adults with chronic low back pain, chronic low back pain plus leg pain, and controls. Design Cross-sectional, comparative study. Setting Standardized examinations were conducted in a research laboratory, and magnetic resonance images were obtained. Subjects A total of 93 adults age 60 to 85 years (24 with chronic back pain, 25 with chronic back pain plus leg pain, and 44 controls). Methods Reliability for assessment of epidural fat diameter, averaged across spinal levels, was established (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.95). Linear regression was used to explore how epidural fat diameter related to self-reported (Short Form-36 Health Survey: physical component summary score) and performance-based (stair climb performance) measures of physical function among adults with chronic back pain with and without leg pain, as compared with controls, while controlling for age, sex, and body mass index. Associations between epidural fat and pain intensity and low back pain-related disability were also explored (P ≤ 0.050). Results Epidural fat helped explain self-reported function (P Conclusions Increased epidural fat may help explain better function among older adults with chronic axial back pain, but not among those who also report leg pain.

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

Browse all related research

Filter the research library by this study's title keywords, author, or publication year.