School screening for scoliosis: cohort study of clinical course.

A visual examination of 1764 Oxford schoolchildren for scoliosis was followed by low-dose radiography of the spine in those who showed evidence of asymmetric body topography; radiography was repeated a year later to assess progression. Forty-four children had curves of 10 degrees or more. Two had a congenital abnormality and the remaining 42 were classified according to the type of curve: sacral tilt (compensatory), spinal (idiopathic), or combined (sacral tilt and spinal). Progression occurred in 6 (14%) children, none of whom had only a sacral tilt. These results suggest that only by measuring sacral tilt can benign compensatory curves be differentiated from true idiopathic scoliosis.