Comparison of Quality of Life Between Men and Women Who Underwent Transforaminal Percutaneous Endoscopic Discectomy for Lumbar Disc Herniation.
Background
Studies describing the efficacy of transforaminal percutaneous endoscopic discectomy (TPED) on shortness of recovery and improvement of postoperative quality of life are limited, especially regarding gender, something that has never been reported before in the literature. The purpose of this study is to evaluate, in accordance with the sex of the patients, possible differences in the health-related quality of life of those who underwent TPED for lumbar disc herniation (LDH).


Methods
A total of 76 patients diagnosed and treated with TPED for LDH with 1-year follow-up were selected and divided into 2 groups of equal number depending on sex. Their quality of life was evaluated by using the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey before the operation, then 6 weeks and 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. A statistical analysis was conducted, in order to compare the 8 scaled scores of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey, each time combining 2 chronological phases for the total number of patients, for each group, and between groups.


Results
Fifty-two (68.4%) patients were ≤63 years old, whereas the other 24 (31.4%) were >63 years old (mean ±  SD = 56.5 ±  12.1 years). Apart from the physical function domain, the scores were higher in every visit for the 2 groups, but the change between groups was not significant. Women had a significantly higher increase of physical function score in 3 months after TPED and in the interval 6 weeks to 3 months compared with men. However, in the intervals 3 to 6 months and 3 to 12 months, men presented a significantly higher increase compared with women.


Conclusions
Statistically significant improvement of the quality of life for both men and women was observed. Generally, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups. With regard to the physical functioning, it appears to be a significant difference that is counterpoised over time.


Level of evidence
2.


Clinical relevance
Transforaminal percutaneous endoscopic discectomy for LDH does not present major differences in the improvement of quality of life regarding gender.
['Kapetanakis|Stylianos|S|', 'Gkasdaris|Grigorios|G|', 'Thomaidis|Tryfon|T|', 'Charitoudis|Georgios|G|', 'Kazakos|Konstantinos|K|']
quality of life transforaminal percutaneous endoscopic discectomy lumbar disc herniation gender SF-36 minimally invasive spine surgery