Objective: To determine whether the risk factors described in the literature are applicable to our population or not.
Material and methods: A case and control study was undertaken. Seventy patients with an imaging-confirmed diagnosis of lumbar stenosis were included as well as 70 controls that denied having any of the following symptoms: chronic lumbar pain, claudication, sensory alterations and muscle weakness of the lower limbs. A survey to identify risk factors possibly associated with lumbar stenosis was carried out. The statistical analysis was done with non-conditional logistic regression and the risks were determined by means of an odds ratio (OR) in both a univariate and a multivariate modality.
Results: One hundred and forty individuals of both genders were included; 70 cases and 70 controls. The factors that were found to be significant in the univariate analysis were included in the multivariate analysis. The OR for age was 7.6 (CI 95% = 2.81-20.93; p = 0.0001), for scoliosis, 5.14 (IC 95% = 1.27-20.77; p = 0.021), for SAH, 1.82 (IC 95% = 0.74-4.48; p = 0.19) and for neoplasias, 2.55 (IC 95% = 0.22-29.23; p = 0.45).
Conclusion: This study showed that age over 65 years, scoliosis and systemic arterial hypertension are risk factors for lumbar stenosis. The multivariate analysis showed that age increases the risk in the presence of scoliosis.