Clinical Outcomes of Surgery in Young Patients With Spinal Deformity

Major spinal deformity can cause many adverse effects on the patients, body and soul leading to pain, decreased ability to do activity in daily living, and also depression. The present study aims to assess the quality of life among patients undergoing surgical treatment for spinal deformity, using SRS-30 questionnaire. We retrospectively evaluated 48 young patients (26 females, 22 males) with major spinal deformity underwent definite surgical correction in our orthopedic department from August 2009 to August 2012. The mean age and follow-up period were 16.2 ± 2.8 years and 38.4 ± 8.8 months, respectively. Demographic characteristics were extracted from the medical records and SRS-30 questionnaire fulfilled pre-operatively and at the last follow-up visit. We used statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 13.0 for statistical analysis. Frequency of underlying diseases was congenital scoliosis in 22 (45.8%), idiopathic scoliosis 20 (41.7%), and Scheuermann’s kyphosis 6 (12.5%). Pain and function were relatively unchanged while surgery could significantly improve patient’s self-image, psychology, and satisfaction. Total SRS-30 score was also improved (P < 0.001). Patients’ age, sex, body mass index, educational status, or type of deformity did not correlate significantly with satisfaction or total SRS-30 score. Surgical treatment of spinal deformity in the young regardless of the type of disease, can lead to significant improvements in health-related quality of life, as shown by self-image, psychology, and satisfaction in SRS-30 domain scores. Demographic data including sex, age, weight, height, and education were not correlated with the outcome.