Modic changes (MC) is a form of intervertebral disc degeneration visible as subchondral and vertebral bone marrow changes on spine magnetic resonance (MR). Their etiology is not understood, but microbial infection may be involved for some subtypes. This study set out to test for an association between MC and gut microbiome in a population sample. Presence of MC was evaluated in lumbar MR images and gut microbiome assessed using 16S sequencing in TwinsUK dataset (N=309). Cases were identified by the presence of MC of any type, while controls were those without MC. Amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) have been obtained for 16S sequences followed by relative abundance calculation and centred log-ratio transformation. Linear mixed-effects models were applied to test for association between the ASVs at different taxon levels and MC adjusting for technical covariates and demographics.Objective
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