ArticleActa neurochirurgica2023
Favorable long-term health-related quality of life after surgery for lumbar disc herniation in young adult patients.
Article in Acta neurochirurgica, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Comparison of chemonucleolysis and discectomy in the management of lumbar disc herniation: a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis.Neurosurgical review · 2025Pooled it
- The Effect of Manual Therapy on Psychological Factors and Quality of Life in Lumbar Disc Herniation Patients: A Single Blinded Randomized Clinical Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Trial
- Health-related quality of life among patients with low back pain attending rehabilitation facilities in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Development and validation of a predictive model and tool for functional recovery in patients after postero-lateral interbody fusion.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Article
- Are large language models valid tools for patient information on lumbar disc herniation? The spine surgeons' perspective.Brain & spine · 2024Article
- Machine learning predictive model for lumbar disc reherniation following microsurgical discectomy.Brain & spine · 2024Article
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5 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundLumbar disc herniation is often managed conservatively; nevertheless, surgical intervention can be required. Majority of patients experience a drastic relief of symptoms after surgery, but previous studies have reported that their health-related quality of life remains inferior compared to the general population for several years. There may be a major cumulative loss of health-related quality of life for young patients as they have long expected life ahead of them.
methodsA total of 526 eligible adult patients under the age of 40 underwent surgery for lumbar disc herniation from 1990 to 2005. Patients' baseline characteristics were acquired by chart review to confirm eligibility to the study. Follow-up quality of life data was acquired by sending patients EQ-5D questionnaire at median 18 years after index surgery, and those 316 patients responding to the questionnaire (60%) were included in the study. Propensity score matching was utilized to match every study patient with two general population sample participants from a large Finnish population health study. Primary objective was to compare the quality of life to that of the control population. Secondary objective was to explore which patient characteristics lead to inferior outcome.
resultsThe mean EQ-index for the patient cohort was 0.86, while it was 0.84 for the age and gender-matched general population sample (difference 0.02, 95% CI - 0.0004 to 0.049). Within the patient cohort, an increasing number of lifetime lumbar surgeries was associated with progressively deteriorating EQ-index scores (p = 0.049) and longer duration of symptoms prior to the surgery correlated with lower score (p = 0.013).
conclusionPatients who underwent surgery for lumbar disc herniation nearly two decades ago reported quality of life comparable to the age and gender-matched general population. However, patients who had undergone numerous lumbar surgeries had significantly worse outcome. Therefore, possible ways to prevent cumulation of lumbar surgeries could improve long-term health-related quality of life.
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