ArticleEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2018
How does patient-rated outcome change over time following the surgical treatment of degenerative disorders of the thoracolumbar spine?
Article in European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Interpreting acute postoperative MRI after lumbar spinal fusion: a practical framework for clinical decision-making.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Review
- Is pain relief enough? Early response discordance after lumbar decompressive surgery: a prospective cohort study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Observational
- A crosswalk for the conversion of scores between the Neck Disability Index (NDI) and the neck version of the Core Outcome Measures Index (COMI-neck).European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Article
- Identifying preoperative radiographic metrics to guide surgical selection in lumbar spondylolisthesis and stenosis.North American Spine Society journal · 2025Article
- The Core Outcome Measures Index (COMI) comes of age: 18 years of efficient and effective patient-reported outcome measurement in the field of spinal disorders. Part 1. Development of the COMI, interpretation of scores, and use in research.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2025Review
- How reliable are the Core Outcome Measures Index and Global Treatment Outcome as measures of treatment success after surgery for central lumbar spinal canal stenosis?European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2025Article
- Can 3-month models or observed 3- or 6-month patient-reported outcome measures accurately predict 12-month disability and pain after lumbar decompressive surgery?Archives of orthopaedic and trauma surgery · 2025Article
- Comparison between microendoscopic laminectomy and open posterior decompression surgery for two-level lumbar spinal stenosis: a multicenter retrospective cohort study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2024Article
- Post-operative shift in pain profile following fusion surgery for adult spinal deformity: a cluster analysis.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2024Article
- Evaluation of "appropriate use criteria" for surgical decision-making in lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis. A controlled, multicentre, prospective observational study.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2024Observational
- Does loss to follow-up lead to an overestimation of treatment success? Findings from a spine surgery registry of over 15,000 patients.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2023Article
- Onset of mental disorders in patients who developed failed back surgery syndrome.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2022Article
- Development of a machine-learning based model for predicting multidimensional outcome after surgery for degenerative disorders of the spine.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2022Article
- Effect of diabetes on patient-reported outcome measures at one year after laminoplasty for cervical spondylotic myelopathy.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Comparison between microendoscopic laminectomy and open posterior decompression surgery for single-level lumbar spinal stenosis: a multicenter retrospective cohort study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2021Article
- Patient-rated outcome after atlantoaxial (C1-C2) fusion: more than a decade of evaluation of 2-year outcomes in 126 patients.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2021Article
- Minimum clinically important change for outcome scores among patients aged 75 or over undergoing lumbar spine surgery.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2021Article
- Construct validity and responsiveness of commonly used patient reported outcome instruments in decompression for lumbar spinal stenosis.Journal of clinical orthopaedics and trauma · 2021Article
- Diabetes is associated with greater leg pain and worse patient-reported outcomes at 1 year after lumbar spine surgery.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Does neck pain as chief complaint influence the outcome of cervical total disc replacement?European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposePatient-rated measures are considered the gold standard for assessing the outcome of spine surgery, but there is no consensus on the appropriate timing of follow-up. Journals often demand a minimum 2-year follow-up, but the indiscriminate application of this principle may not be warranted. We examined the course of change in patient outcomes up to 5 years after surgery for degenerative spinal disorders.
methodsThe data were evaluated from 4287 consecutive patients (2287 women, 2000 men; aged 62 ± 15 years) with degenerative disorders of the thoracolumbar spine, undergoing first-time surgery at the given level between 01/01/2005 and 31/12/2011. The Core Outcome Measures Index (COMI; scored 0-10) was completed by 4012 (94%) patients preoperatively, 4008 (93%) at 3-month follow-up, 3897 (91%) at 1-year follow-up, 3736 (87%) at 2-year follow-up, and 3387 (79%) at 5-year follow-up. 2959 (69%) completed the COMI at all five time-points.
resultsThe individual COMI change scores from preoperatively to the various follow-up time-points showed significant correlations ranging from r = 0.50 (for change scores at the earliest vs the latest follow-up) to r = 0.75 (for change scores after 12- vs 24-month follow-up). Concordance with respect to whether the minimum clinically important change score was achieved at consecutive time-points was also good (70-82%). COMI decreased significantly (p < 0.05) from preop to 3 months (by 3.6 ± 2.8 points) and from 3 to 12 months (by 0.3 ± 2.4 points), then levelled off up to 5 years (0.04-0.05 point change; p > 0.05). The course of change up to 12 months differed slightly (p < 0.05) depending on pathology/whether fusion was carried out. For patients undergoing simple decompression, 3-month follow-up was sufficient; those undergoing fusion continued to show further slight but significant change up to 12 months.
conclusionsStable group mean COMI scores were observed for all patients from 12 months postoperatively onwards. The early postoperative results appeared to herald the longer term outcome. As such, a 'wait and see policy' in patients with a poor initial outcome at 3 months is not advocated. The insistence on a 2-year follow-up could result in a failure to intervene early to achieve better long-term outcomes.
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