Physicians currently use patient-reported outcomes in clinical research to evaluate treatments for lumbar spinal stenosis, but those measures may not match the patients’ definition of a successful surgery, especially among older patients.
The researchers sampled 33 older adults with spinal stenosis with funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. The researchers found these areas as the most concerning for patients:
1. Experiencing pain/discomfort: 88 percent
2. Problems with physical function: 85 percent
3. Difficulty exercising: 73 percent
4. Difficulty participating in hobbies and leisure activities: 55 percent
5. Problems with weakness: 52 percent
There were only 10 items in the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire that more than 50 percent of participants thought were important enough to warrant epidural steroid injections.
“Commonly used PROs in spinal stenosis treatment studies may be insufficient to comprehensively assess outcomes from the patient perspective,” concluded the study authors.
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