Health-related quality of life in patients after lumbar disc surgery: a longitudinal observational study.
OBJECTIVE
Objectives of this study are (1) to compare health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients after lumbar disc surgery with reference data from the German general population; (2) to examine whether changes in HRQOL occur over time; (3) to investigate associations between HRQOL and socio-demographic and health-related factors.


METHODS
The study sample consisted at baseline of 189 patients who underwent lumbar disc surgery. Baseline assessment was carried out 1-4 days after surgery, the first follow-up 2 months, the second follow-up 6 months after surgery. HRQOL was assessed by means of the WHOQOL-BREF.


RESULTS
During follow-up, patients showed significant improvement in "physical well being" and "overall quality of life." However, it did not reach the level of the general population at any assessment point. There was also a slight improvement of "psychological well being." The domains "social relationships" and "environment" remained unchanged and showed persistently higher scores than the general population. Cohabitating was positively associated with QoL. Negatively associated were unemployment, part-time employment, desire for early retirement, higher intensity of pain and depression.


CONCLUSIONS
Supplementing physical rehabilitation by psychosocial interventions may help improve patients' HRQOL.
Heider
Dirk
D
Health Economics Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Leipzig, Johannisallee 20, 04317 Leipzig, Germany. heidd@medizin.uni-leipzig.de
Kitze
Katharina
K
Zieger
Margrit
M
Riedel-Heller
Steffi G
SG
Angermeyer
Matthias C
MC
D000328:Adult; D017586:Diskectomy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000601:surgery; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011788:Quality of Life; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States