Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35821173›Full record

ArticleQuality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation2022

The minimal important change for the EQ VAS based on the SF-36 health transition item: observations from 25772 spine surgery procedures.

Anders Joelson, Fredrik Nerelius, Freyr Gauti Sigmundsson, Jan Karlsson

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
15citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

15 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. A new hernia blocking system to prevent recurrent lumbar disc herniation: surgical technique, intraoperative findings and six-months post-operative outcomes.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 · 2025
    Trial
  3. Evaluating the impact of body-mass index on short- and medium-term outcomes after lumbar endoscopic decompression surgery: a single‑surgeon, multi‑hospital cohort 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 · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Very long-term outcomes of single-level minimally invasive tubular lumbar microdiscectomy with over 10 years follow-up.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 · 2026
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Characterising patients undergoing surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis associated neurogenic claudication in the UK: what does the British Spinal Registry tell us?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 · 2025
    Article
  9. Estimating the minimum clinically important difference (MCID) of the five-repetition sit-to-stand test in patients with lumbar disc herniation.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 · 2025
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Anders JoelsonDepartment of Orthopedics, Orebro University School of Medical Sciences and Orebro University Hospital, SE70185, Orebro, Sweden. anders@joelson.se.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7931-9617
Fredrik NereliusDepartment of Orthopedics, Orebro University School of Medical Sciences and Orebro University Hospital, SE70185, Orebro, Sweden.
Freyr Gauti SigmundssonDepartment of Orthopedics, Orebro University School of Medical Sciences and Orebro University Hospital, SE70185, Orebro, Sweden.
Jan KarlssonFaculty of Medicine and Health, University Health Care Research Center, Orebro University, SE70182, Orebro, Sweden.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThe EQ VAS is an integral part of EQ-5D, a commonly used instrument for health-related quality of life assessment. This study aimed to calculate the minimal important change (MIC) thresholds for the EQ VAS for improvement and deterioration after surgery for disk herniation or spinal stenosis.

methodsPatients, who were surgically treated for disk herniation or spinal stenosis between 2007 and 2016, were recruited from the Swedish spine register. Preoperative and 1-year postoperative data for a total of 25772 procedures were available for analysis. We used two anchor-based methods to estimate MIC for EQ VAS: (1) a predictive model based on logistic regression and (2) receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves. The SF-36 health transition item was used as anchor.

resultsThe EQ VAS MIC threshold for improvement after disk herniation surgery ranged from 8.25 to 11.8 while the corresponding value for deterioration ranged from - 6.17 to 0.5. For spinal stenosis surgery the corresponding MIC values ranged from 10.5 to 14.5 and - 7.16 to - 6.5 respectively. There were moderate negative correlations (disk herniation - 0.47, spinal stenosis - 0.46) between the 1 year change in the EQ VAS and the SF-36 health transition item (MIC anchor).

conclusionsFor EQ VAS, we recommend a MIC threshold of 12 points for improvement after surgery for disk herniation or spinal stenosis, whereas the corresponding threshold for deterioration is - 7 points. There are marked differences between the EQ VAS MIC for improvement and deterioration after surgery for disk herniation or spinal stenosis. The MIC value varied depending on the method used for MIC estimation.

Indexed as

Intervertebral Disc DisplacementSpinal StenosisDisability EvaluationHealth TransitionHumansPain MeasurementQuality of LifeSurveys and QuestionnairesTreatment OutcomeDisk herniationEQ-5DEQ VASHealth transition itemMCIDMICROCSF-36Spinal stenosis

Identifiers

PMID35821173
PMCPMC9587963

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.