HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH SELF-REPORTED SCHEUERMANN’S DISEASE COMPARED TO THE BACKGROUND POPULATION. BASED ON A COHORT STUDY OF TWINS.

Abstract

In the litterature patients suffering Mb. Scheuermann (MS) have been reported to experience more back pain and other back related constrains compared to subjects matched for age and sex. We have been unable to find publications on health-related quality of life by SF-12 or SF-36 in MS. The aim of the present study was to compare health-related quality of life status in MS to the background population.

Materials and Methods: The present cohorts are derived from The Danish Twin Registry and consist of all Danish twins born from 1931 through 1982. This twin cohort has been shown to very closely resemble the general Danish population. A total of 46,418 twins received and 75% returned a questionnaire of which 34,007(97.3 %) answered the question ‘Have you been diagnosed with Scheuermann’s disease?’ Included in the questionnaire were the standardised questions for The Medical Outcome Study Short Form-12 (SF-12), from which we calculated the SF-12 Physical Component Summary scale (SF-12 PCS) and the SF-12 Mental Component Summary scale (SF-12 MCS) using the SF Health Outcomes Scoring Software. Nine-hundred-and-forty-three reported to have MS and the remaining 33,064 responders were used as controls.

Results: The mean(SD) age in the MS group was 43.7(11.9) years compared to 44.4(13.7) in the control group (NS). The overall self-reported prevalence of MS was 2.8% (95% c.i.l. 2.6–3.0), male : female prevalence was 3.6% (95% c.i.l. 3.2–4.1) : 2.1% (95% c.i.l. 1.9–2.3). In the controls male : female prevalence was 45.2% (n=14,953) : 54.8% (n=18,111).

Conclusion: The perceived health status from SF-12 PCS in self-reported MS was moderately though highly significantly worse than in controls in a big cohort of Danish twins. There was no difference in SF-12 MCS between the two groups.