Heterogeneous influences of emotional disturbances on multi-domain quality of life after anterior cervical spine surgery: A prospective study

• Published in: Clinical neurology and neurosurgery Vol. 184; p. 105447
• Main Authors: Yang, Chi-Cheng, Lin, Wei-Chi, Chien, Andy, Wang, Jaw-Lin, Lai, Dar-Ming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.09.2019; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Anxiety; Back surgery; Bone surgery; Cervical; Clinical outcomes; Depression; Emotions; Influence; Mental depression; Mental health; Neurology; Neurosurgery; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Patients; Quality of life; Spinal cord; Spinal surgery; Spine (cervical); Standard deviation; Surgery; Validity; Variance analysis; Taiwan; Depression; Anxiety; Spinal surgery; Cervical; Quality of life
• ISSN: 0303-8467; 1872-6968; 1872-6968
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clineuro.2019.105447

•More than 1/3 (38%) patients reported significant anxious symptoms after C-spine surgery.•Depression and anxiety were significantly associated with post-operative quality of life.•Patients who scored more than 17 on the pre-operative BAI reported more unfavorable post-operative quality of life. Quality of life (QoL) has been identified as one of the most important outcome measurements following cervical spine surgery. The contributing factors to post-operative QoL remain limited. This study thus aimed to prospectively examine the QoL and related pre-operative emotional factors in patients who underwent anterior cervical spine surgery. A total of 124 patients who underwent anterior cervical spine surgery were recruited. All participants were prospectively evaluated for their QoL and 2 aspects of emotion, depression and anxiety, before and after surgery, respectively. Pre-operatively, 13% of patients showed signs of depression and 31% of patients reported symptoms of anxiety. Post-operatively 14% of patients reported depression, but 41% reported symptoms of anxiety. A significant association between depression, anxiety and different domains of QoL were identified, and specific cut-off points of pre-operatively depressive and/or anxiety levels to predict unfavorable post-operative QoL were further established. This prospective study demonstrated specific emotional factors, specifically depression and anxiety, influence patients’ QoL following surgery. These results suggest clinicians should also monitor patients’ emotional adjustments with their physical conditions.