The effects of aging on the profile of the cervical spine.

The study aims to investigate the effects of aging on the cervical spine. Outpatients in the study were grouped by age. The cervical spine image in the sagittal plane from participants in the supine position was acquired with MRI. Thoracic inlet angle (TIA), T1 slope (T1S), neck tilt (NT), and cervical angle (CC2-7) were measured. NT and TIA measured 41.84 +/- 9.26 and 64.15 +/- 10.72 in participants younger than 40, and 53.02 +/- 9.52 and 72.09 +/- 10.49 in participants older than 40 (P < .01). CC2-7 measured 6.11 +/- 9.88 in participants younger than 40, significantly lower compared with participants older than 40, which measured 10.89 +/- 11.02 (P = .003). TIS did not differ significantly between the 2 groups (P = .087). No significant difference was found in all measurements between the female and male participants. Age was moderately correlated with NT (r = 0.466, P < .01) and TIA (r = 0.512, P < .01), but weakly correlated with CC2-7 (r = 0.315, P < .01) and TIS (r = 0.210, P = .005). TIA showed a strong correlation with NT (r = 0.748, P < .01) and a moderate correlation with T1S (r = 0.458, P < .01). Lastly, T1S was strongly correlated with CC2-7 (r = 0.701, P < .01). The result showed that NT, CC2-7, and TIA, but not T1S, increased with age.