Singapore - Nearly one in 10 Singaporeans over 40 suffers from a curved spine disorder, the findings of the first such study in Asia said Wednesday.

The results are in line with a study carried out in North America, which showed similar results.

Conducted by a team at the National University Hospital, surgeons are hoping the study will help determine the cause of lumbar scoliosis, a condition that makes the lower spine curve sideways.

It can lead to back and leg pain, making it hard to walk.

The condition occurs more than twice as frequently in Chinese and Malays than Indians, the study said.

"A patient could get intense pain just from walking long distances, shopping or even taking their grandchildren to school," The Straits Times quoted Professor Wong Hee Kit as saying.

Researchers examined scans carried out on the lower backs of 5,500 random patients over more than two years.

They found that four times more patients in their 80s had lumbar scoliosis than those in their 40s. The condition is 1.6 times more common in women. (dpa)