Quality of life in children and adolescents undergoing spinal deformity surgery

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Quality of life measurements evaluate surgical results from patients' reported outcomes.

OBJECTIVE:

To assess the impact of spinal deformity treatment using the Scoliosis Research Society-22 questionnaire.

METHODS:

SRS-22 data was collected in 545 consecutive patients (425 females-120 males) pre-operatively, 6-, 12- and 24-months post-operatively. Variables included type and age of surgery (mean: 15.14 ± 2.07 years), gender, diagnosis and year of surgery. Age at surgery was divided in: 10-12, 13-15, and 15-19 years.

RESULTS:

Mean pre-operative SRS-22 scores for the whole group were: function 3.77 ± 0.75; pain 3.7 ± 0.97; self-image 3.14 ± 0.66; mental health 3.86 ± 0.77; total 3.62 ± 0.66. Mean 2-year post-operative scores were: function 4.39 ± 0.42; pain 4.59 ± 0.56; self-image 4.39 ± 0.51; mental health 4.43 ± 0.56; satisfaction 4.81 ± 0.40; total 4.52 ± 0.37 (p< 0.0001). Males performed better at 2-years post-surgery (4.62 ± 0.25) compared to females (4.49 ± 0.39),(p= 0.004). Patients with spondylolisthesis performed worse pre-operatively(2.93 ± 0.26) compared to other diagnoses (p< 0.0001). This did not impact 2-year post-operative outcomes. There were no significant changes regarding age or year of surgery, type of operation or between the 3 age groups.

CONCLUSIONS:

All individual domains and total SRS-22 scores improved significantly with incremental change during post-operative follow-up. Patient satisfaction was very high for all individual diagnosis. 2-year post-operative outcomes compared favorably to reported SRS-22 scores in healthy adolescents.