Peking University, Sept. 18, 2018: On September 15th, 2018, the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association for Spinal Disease Prevention and Control was established in Beijing. The inaugural conference was hosted by the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, organized by the Spinal Disease Prevention and Control Committee and supported by the Beijing Haiying Spine Health Foundation and the Wu Jieping Medical Foundation. Professor Liu Haiying from Peking University People's Hospital acted as the conference initiator.
Conference Site
First, Professor Liu Haiying gave a talk on the establishment application of the work. He pointed out that in recent years, due to the changes in modern lifestyles and the lack of knowledge of the public's spine health, the number of patients with spinal diseases has increased dramatically, whose ages, however, are gradually decreasing. The maintenance of spinal health has placed a heavy burden on the society. Therefore, prevention of such diseases is imperative. Subsequently, the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association made a report on the preparation of this committee and announced the list of first panelists.
Academician Wang Longde Awarded the Plaque to the Committee
After a secret ballot, one director and six deputy directors of the Committee were elected. Professor Liu Haiying was elected as the chairman of the first committee. In addition, nine standing committee members and more than 30 members were confirmed. The professional committee consists of well-known experts and scholars from different levels of disease control institutions, clinical medical care, nutritional health, and domestic research institutions in 20 provinces. As the first professional organization to prevent spinal diseases nationwide, this committee has filled China’s gap in this field.
Spinal diseases have become an urgent global problem due to their high prevalence and serious consequences. Among them, neck and back pain is the leading causes of labor capacity reduction and even to disability. Among the 300 million children and adolescents of our nation, the number of patients can reach 6 million with a trend towards increasing. However, early prevention can effectively intervene. In March 2018, Lancet published three consecutive reports to call for actions on this global problem as soon as possible.
The high risk and high costs of spinal diseases treatment have greatly increased the living burden on people and the government's health expenditures. According to US NIH data, as of 2011, the total expenditure on spinal diseases was as high as $250 billion, with an average annual increase of $46 billion. The per capita expenditure has also increased year by year, and now it is as high as $9,000. Compared with other specialties, spinal surgeons have short training time, long learning curve, and some areas suffer a lack of standardized diagnosis and treatment strategies. The complications of spinal surgery are endless and the cost of remediation is enormous. In the United States, the annual socio-economic damage caused by spinal cord injury alone is as high as $8 billion.
10-20 years ago, institutions related to spinal cord disease prevention (Euro Spine, NASS and NIH, etc.) have been established in Europe and North America, and guidelines for spinal disease prevention have been improved. However, there is still a gap in this aspect of China. Recently, a certain working foundation was established by Professor Liu Haiying’s team. His team has conducted free clinics and screenings for more than 4,000 patients, established 6 medical expert workstations, and trained more than 400 primary doctors across the country, especially in poverty-stricken areas in the central and western regions.
Group Photo of the First Committee Members
The professional academic forum was held concurrently. The participating experts conducted in-depth discussions on the current situation of the prevention and treatment of spinal diseases. It is hoped that the prevention of spinal diseases will be carried out as soon as possible across the country.
Written by: Li Haiyue
Edited by: Zhou Yijing
