Table 3 Summary of the association between high-intensity zones (HIZs) and low back pain (LBP)

Carragee et al.

Of the 42 symptomatic patients, 25 had HIZ: 1 patient had three HIZ discs; 6 patients had two HIZ discs; and 18 patients had one HIZ disc. The asymptomatic group had 13 HIZ discs in 13 of the 54 patients (24%). No reliably associated with HIZ of LBP.

Hancock et al.

No significant differences in rates of MRI findings between controls with no and 1–2 past episodes of LBP.

Takatalo et al.

HIZ occurred in similar frequencies in all clusters of LBP and back-related functional limitations. However, there is no significant association between HIZ lesions and LBP.

Wang et al.

The LBP rate of HIZ patients was significantly higher than that of patients who exhibited no HIZ (57.5 vs. 47.8%, p < 0.05). There was no evidence for a correlation between LBP and spatial distribution of HIZ in disc (p > 0.05).

Liu et al.

The mean signal of HIZ in symptomatic subjects was significantly brighter than in asymptomatic subjects (57.5 ± 14.0% vs. 45.6 ± 7.22%, p < 0.05). There was no statistical difference of area of disc and HIZ between the two groups. MRI index was found to be higher in symptomatic subjects comparing with asymptomatic subjects (3.94 ± 1.71 vs. 3.06 ± 1.50, p < 0.05).

Yang et al.

LBP incidences were compared between the groups of HIZ (+) and HIZ (−). The data demonstrated that 60.7% (17/28 patients) of patients in HIZ (+) group were with LBP, while 20.7% (6/29 patients) of patients in HIZ (−) group were with LBP (p < 0.05)