Predictive Value of Preoperative Short Form-36 Survey Scale for Postoperative Axial Neck Pain in Patients With Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy

Rui Chen; Jiesheng Liu; Yanbin Zhao; Yinze Diao; Xin Chen; Shengfa Pan; Fengshan Zhang; Yu Sun; Feifei Zhou

doi:10.1177/21925682231200136

Predictive Value of Preoperative Short Form-36 Survey Scale for Postoperative Axial Neck Pain in Patients With Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy

Global Spine J. 2023 Sep 8:21925682231200136. doi: 10.1177/21925682231200136. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Rui Chen^{1

2

3}, Jiesheng Liu^{4

5}, Yanbin Zhao^{1

2

3}, Yinze Diao^{1

2

3}, Xin Chen^{1

2

3}, Shengfa Pan^{1

2

3}, Fengshan Zhang^{1

2

3}, Yu Sun^{1

2

3}, Feifei Zhou^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopaedics, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China.
² Engineering Research Center of Bone and Joint Precision Medicine, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China.
³ Beijing Key Laboratory of Spinal Disease Research, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China.
⁴ Department of Spine and Spinal Cord Surgery, China Rehabilitation Research Center, Beijing Bo'ai Hospital, Beijing, China.
⁵ School of Rehabilitation, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

PMID: 37684040
DOI: 10.1177/21925682231200136

Abstract

Study design: Prospective observational study.

Objective: To evaluate the predictive value of the preoperative Short Form-36 survey (SF-36) scale for postoperative axial neck pain (ANP) in patients with degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) who underwent anterior cervical decompression and fusion (ACDF) surgery.

Methods: This study enrolled patients with DCM who underwent ACDF surgery at author's Hospital between May 2010 and June 2016.

Results: Out of 126 eligible patients, 122 completed the 3-month follow-up and 117 completed the 1-year follow-up. The results showed that the preoperative social functioning (SF) subscale score of the SF-36 scale was significantly lower in patients with moderate-to-severe postoperative ANP than in those with no or mild postoperative ANP at both follow-up timepoints (P < .05). ACDF at C4-5 level resulted in a higher ANP rate than ACDF at C5-6 or C6-7 level, both at 3-month (P = .019) and 1-year (P = .004) follow-up. Multivariate logistic regression analysis confirmed that the preoperative social functioning subscale score was an independent risk factor for moderate-to-severe postoperative ANP at 3 months and 1 year after surgery, and preoperative NRS was an independent risk factor at 1-year follow-up. No other demographic, clinical, or radiographic factors were found to be associated with postoperative ANP severity (P < .05).

Conclusions: Preoperative social functioning subscale score of SF-36 scale might be a favorable predictive tool for postoperative ANP in DCM patients who underwent ACDF surgery.

Keywords: anterior cervical decompression and fusion surgery; axial neck pain; degenerative cervical myelopathy; predictive value; short form-36 survey scale.