A team of researchers set out to determine whether orthotic bracing duration affects psychological stress and health-related quality of life in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). They studied 46 patients (8 males and 38 females, aged 11-17 years, regularly treated with bracing) with moderate or moderate to severe idiopathic scoliosis who were separated into two groups based on whether their treatment duration was up to six months or longer.
The brace-related levels of stress and quality of life were investigated in both groups by using the Bad Sobernheim Stress Questionnaire and the Italian Spine Youth Quality of Life, respectively. The questionnaire scores were categorized as low, mean, and high. The statistical analysis considered the proportion of patients falling into the three categories and the difference in crude score rates between the two groups.
The researchers found that the proportion of patients with brace-related stress and impaired quality of life was significantly lower in the group treated longer compared to the group that had only received treatment for up to six months. The study’s authors suggested that the differences could depend on both the physical and psychological adaptation patients make to their brace and that more support should be provided to patients when they start to wear their brace.
The open-access study, “Longer Brace Duration Is Associated with Lower Stress Levels and Better Quality of Life in Adolescents with Idiopathic Scoliosis,” was published in the journal Children.
