Biomedical Research

Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is a common disease for spinal surgeries among elderly adults. However, the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after LSS has not been thoroughly investigated. In the present study, we evaluated the HRQoL after surgery in 127 patients with LSS in a Chinese population. The Medical Outcome Short Form 36 (SF-36) was used to evaluate the HRQoL before surgery and one year after the treatment. We observed improvements in all 8 domains of the HRQoL one year after discharge, though only those in two mental health domains and three physical health domains. Nevertheless, comparing with a healthy reference group, the HRQoL among these patients remained poorer in all domains. Our study suggests that surgical treatment may improve HRQoL in patients with LSS. This study also implies that the HRQoL assessment is a useful tool to assess the outcomes in patients with LSS after surgeries

Author(s): Yu-Shun Fang, Qing-Song Zhang
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