title: A decision analysis to identify the ideal treatment for adult spinal deformity: is surgery better than non-surgical treatment in improving health-related quality of life and decreasing the disease burden?
abstract: Adult spinal deformity (ASD) is a major public health problem. There are pros and cons of the available treatment alternatives (surgical or non-surgical) and it had been difficult to identify the best treatment modality.
  
  
  
  To construct a statistical DA model to identify the optimum overall treatment in ASD.
  
  
  
  From an international multicentre database of ASD patients (968 pts), 535 who had completed 1 year follow-up (371 non-surgical-NS, 164 surgical-S), constitute the population of this study. DA was structured in two main steps of: (1) baseline analysis (assessing the probabilities of outcomes, assessing the values of preference-utilities-, combining information on probability and utility and assigning the quality adjusted life expectancy (QALE) for each treatment) and (2) sensitivity analysis.
  
  
  
  Four hundred and thirty-two patients (309 NS, 123 S) had baseline and 1 year follow-up ODI measurements. Overall, 104 (24.1 %) were found to be improved (a decrease in ODI > 8 points), 225 (52.1 %) unchanged (-8 > ODI > 8) and 65 deteriorated. Surgery presented with a higher chance of improvement (54.2 %) versus NS (9.7 %). The overall QALE ranged from 56 to 69 (of 100 years) and demonstrated better final QALE in the NS group (60 vs. 65, P = 0.0038), this group having started with higher QALE as well (56 vs. 65 years, P < 0.0001). There were improvements in overall QALE in both groups but this was significant only in the surgical group (S from 56 to 60 years, P < 0.0001; NS from 65 to 65 years, P = 0.27). In addition, in the subgroup of patients with significant baseline disability (ODI > 25) surgery appeared to yield marginally better final QALE (58 vs. 56 years, P = 0.1) despite very a similar baseline (54 vs. 54 years, P = 0.93).
  
  
  
  This study demonstrated that a single best treatment modality for ASD may not exist. Conservative treatment appears to yield higher (up to 6 %) QALE compared to surgery, most probably secondary to a higher baseline QALE. On the other hand, surgery provides a significantly higher increase in QALE. Especially in patients with significant disability at baseline, the final QALE tended higher in the S group (although not significant). Finally, chances of a relevant improvement at first year turned out to be significantly lower with NS treatment.
authors.affiliation: Ankara Spine Center, Iran Caddesi 45/2 Kavaklidere, Ankara, 06700, Turkey. acaroglue@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Emre
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Acaroglu
authors.affiliation: Clinistats EU, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Aysun Cetinyurek
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Yavuz
authors.affiliation: Ankara Spine Center, Iran Caddesi 45/2 Kavaklidere, Ankara, 06700, Turkey.
authors.forename: Umit Ozgur
authors.initials: UO
authors.lastname: Guler
authors.affiliation: Yildirim Beyazit University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Selcen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yuksel
authors.affiliation: Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yasemin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yavuz
authors.affiliation: Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Montse
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Domingo-Sabat
authors.affiliation: Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Ferran
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pellise
authors.affiliation: Acibadem Maslak Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alanay
authors.affiliation: Hospital Universitari La Paz, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Francesco Sanchez
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Perez Grueso
authors.affiliation: Schultess Clinic, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kleinstück
authors.affiliation: Bordeaux University Hospital, Bordeaux, France.
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Obeid
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000072700:Conservative Treatment; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D019299:Decompression, Surgical; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007738:Kyphosis / Q000628:therapy*; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D019637:Orthopedic Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D010027:Osteotomy; D011788:Quality of Life; D013123:Spinal Fusion; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Adult operative surgical procedure; Decision analysis; Spinal curvatures; Treatment
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