Infantile idiopathic scoliosis: can it be prevented?

The changing incidence of idiopathic scoliosis in 672 patients who attended the Edinburgh Scoliosis Clinic between 1968 and 1982 inclusive is reported. Of these patients, 144 had infantile, 51 juvenile and 477 adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Thirty-seven of the infantile curves progressed and 107 resolved. The relative frequency of both progressive and resolving infantile idiopathic scoliosis (given as a percentage of the total number of patients with idiopathic scoliosis) declined from 41.75 per cent in the four years from 1968 to 1971, to four per cent in the three years from 1980 to 1982. It is suggested that infantile idiopathic scoliosis is a preventable deformity and that the position in which the infant is laid may be a causative factor.