Study design: A descriptive study of the association between Schmorl nodes (SNs) and gender, ethnic origin, and age in a normal skeletal population.
Objectives: To gain reliable data on behavioral patterns of SNs in various human groups shedding light on its etiology.
Summary of background data: Opinions regarding SNs prevalence in human populations vary greatly (from 5% to 70%). This caveat greatly reduced our ability to recognize the etiology of the phenomenon and understand its clinical significance.
Methods: Two hundred forty human skeleton vertebrae (T4-L5) from a normal adult population (divided by gender, ethnicity, and age) were examined for SNs. SNs were defined as depressions with sclerotic margins appearing on the vertebral body surface.
Results: One hundred sixteen individuals (48.3%) of the 240 studied manifested SNs along their thoracolumbar spine. SNs are age independent and gender and ethnicity dependent, are significantly more common in males (54.2%) versus females (43%) and more common in European-Americans (60.3%) versus African-Americans (36.7%).
Conclusion: SNs are a common phenomenon in the normal adult populations with almost half of the individuals in our sample manifesting at least 1 vertebra with SN. Its demographic characteristics suggest that the phenomenon is not of occupational origin, promoting the notion of genetic background.