Abstract
Introduction
This study aims to evaluate the impact of associated psychological co-morbidities (Depression/Anxiety), smoking history, gender, work benefits and employment status on the clinical outcome following anterior cervical disc replacement (ACDR).
Materials and Methods
We included in our study 100 patients who underwent ACDR in our Spinal Unit (between May 2006 – May 2010). We used as clinical outcome measures: Visual Analogue Score for neck pain (VAS-NP) and arm pain (VAS-AP), Neck Disability Index (NDI) and Bodily Pain (SF36-BP) component of the Short Form 36 questionnaire. Statistics were obtained using SPSS 16.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL). Independent sample t-test for normally distributed data and Man-Whitney U test for non-parametric data were used. Statistical significance was designated at p < 0.05.
Results
There were 48 males and 52 females. Average age at operation was 52.96 years (Range 38-80) for males and 49.79 years (Range 31-71) for females. Average duration of follow up was 14.4 months (Range 6-35). Out of 100 patients, 28 patients had a history of anxiety/depression, 19 patients were smokers, 47 were actively working and 23 were receiving work benefits. We found that gender, smoking status, associated co-morbidities, working and benefit status had no statistically significant contribution to clinical outcome measures in the follow up period. For example, in the sub-group of non-smokers versus smokers, there was no significant difference in NDI (p=0.78), VAS-AP (p=0.12), SF-BP (p= 0.83) and VAS-NP (p=0.08).
Conclusion
We conclude that in our study there was no statistically significant contribution of the associated psychosocial factors on the clinical outcomes following ACDR.
