Does Metabolic Syndrome Exacerbate Spinal Degeneration in Patients with Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Two-Year Retrospective Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE: Metabolic syndrome (MetS), as a collection of underlying diseases, has multiple diagnostic criteria as risk factors for lumbar disc herniation (LDH). However, the relationship between MetS and LDH is not yet clear. METHODS: We strictly followed the inclusion and exclusion criteria from July 2022 to November 2024 in the spinal surgery department (4) of Tianjin Union Medical Center to include 124 patients who underwent single-segment lumbar discectomy, including 40 patients with MetS and 84 patients without MetS. Their hospitalization numbers were recorded, gender, age, diagnosis, smoking history, abdominal circumference, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein, blood pressure on the day of admission, fasting blood glucose, preoperative lumbar curvature, lumbar lordosis angle, sacral tilt angle, as well as segmental lordosis angle, and posterior intervertebral height of L4-5 and L5-S1. RESULTS: Patients with LDH combined with MetS have smaller preoperative luminal curvature compared to those without MetS, lumbar lordosis angle, sacral tilt angle, segmental lordosis angle, and posterior intervertebral height. However, it is controversial that there was no statistically significant difference in the segment anterior convexity angle of the L5-S1 segment between the 2 groups (P = 0.051). CONCLUSIONS: In LDH patients, compared to patients without MetS, MetS patients have poorer biomechanical indicators and more severe lumbar degeneration.