Diabetes mellitus as a risk factor for intervertebral disc degeneration: a critical review.
Kalliopi AlpantakiAlkisti KampouroglouChristos KoutserimpasGrigoris EffraimidisAlexander HadjipavlouPublished in: European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society (2019)
The clinical evidence is not consistent, but weakly supports the relationship between DM and IVDD. However, the laboratory studies consistently suggest that DM interferes with multipronged aberrant molecular and biochemical pathways that provoke IVDD. Taken as a whole, the strong laboratory evidence and the weak clinical studies implicate DM as a distinct contributing factor for IVDD. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.