The measurements of health-related quality-of-life and pain assessment in the preoperative patients with low back pain

Kotryna Vereščiagina, Kazys Vytautas Ambrozaitis, Bronius Špakauskas

Department of Neurosurgery, Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania

Key words: lumbar disc herniation disease; health-related quality of life, preoperative SF-36 scores; Lithuanian analogue of the McGill Pain Questionnaire; Oswestry Disability Index.

Summary. Objective. This prospective observational study of the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), Oswestry Disability Index, Lithuanian version of the McGill Pain Questionnaire, and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain was performed to evaluate their effectiveness in the additional preoperative screening of patients with disc herniation disease.

Patients and methods. In the present study, we investigated a cohort of 100 patients with lumbar disc herniation causing low back pain and the second one of 100 patients with nonspecific low back pain by applying physical activity, pain scales and Short-Form 36 General Health Questionnaire.

Results. The quantitative analysis of SF-36 domain scores showed the substantial differences in both examined (herniated and control) groups. In the present study, we estimated moderate but statistically significant (P<0.05) correlations between the bodily pain domain scores and assessment of back and leg pain on the VAS, as well as between the physical function and walking/standing ability (Oswestry). According to appropriate pain assessment instruments (Lithuanian version of the McGill Pain Questionnaire), qualitative and quantitative analysis of the preoperative patients was performed.

Conclusion. The provided methodology could be used in population-based studies or in clinical samples that focus on specific impairments and seek to control the pain frequency and intensity, for example, follow-up assessments testing the effectiveness of surgical procedures performed, and to elicit the pathways leading to other impairments.

Correspondence to K. Vereščiagina, Department of Neurosurgery, Kaunas University of Medicine, Eivenių 2, 50009 Kaunas, Lithuania. E-mail: cotryna@gmail.com

Received 18 September 2007, accepted 5 February 2009