Diário da Espinha

Evaluation of Health Related Quality of Life in Patients Candidate for Spine Surgery

Abstract

Jose Antonio Becerra Fontal, Joan Bagó Granell, Josep Garré Olmo, Anton Rañé Tarragó, Misericordia Ramos, Xavier Rived, Francisco Peris Prats and Carlos Villanueva Leal

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to assess the quality of life of patients who are candidates for spine surgery using a quality of life measure adjusted according to age and sex.

Methods: The SF-36 health questionnaire was administered consecutively to patients admitted for spine surgery. They were classified according to their clinical status: low back pain, lumbar radiculopathy, neurogenic claudication, cervical radiculopathy and cervical myelopathy. Associated morbidities were registered retrospectively using the Charlson comorbidity index. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to compare the groups with each other, with the general average population and with the average population adjusted by age and sex using standardized T values.

Results: 284 patients with an average age of 49.6 years (SD=12.9) were assessed. Patients awaiting lumbar spine surgery are those who showed the worst results on both the physical and mental scales. Patients with radicular pain only showed worse results than patients with low back pain on the bodily pain scale. These results were not influenced by the associated co-morbidities.

Conclusions: The use of the SF-36 scores through standardized and age- and sex-adjusted T values provides a better appreciation of the differences between various diseases. Patients awaiting lumbar spine surgery are associated with a poorer quality of life than patients awaiting cervical spine surgery. Radicular pain in patients with lumbar pathology is only associated with a worsening on the bodily pain scale.