Predictive Value of Preoperative Short Form-36 Survey Scale for Postoperative Axial Neck Pain in Patients With Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy

Study Design: Prospective observational study.Objective: To evaluate the predictive value of the preoperative Short Form-36 survey (SF-36) scale for postoperative axial neck pain (ANP) in patients with degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) who underwent anterior cervical decompression and fusion (ACDF) surgery.Methods: This study enrolled patients with DCM who underwent ACDF surgery at author's Hospital between May 2010 and June 2016.Results: Out of 126 eligible patients, 122 completed the 3-month follow-up and 117 completed the 1-year follow-up. The results showed that the preoperative social functioning (SF) subscale score of the SF-36 scale was significantly lower in patients with moderate-to-severe postoperative ANP than in those with no or mild postoperative ANP at both follow-up timepoints (P < .05). ACDF at C4-5 level resulted in a higher ANP rate than ACDF at C5-6 or C6-7 level, both at 3-month (P = .019) and 1-year (P = .004) follow-up. Multivariate logistic regression analysis confirmed that the preoperative social functioning subscale score was an independent risk factor for moderate-to-severe postoperative ANP at 3 months and 1 year after surgery, and preoperative NRS was an independent risk factor at 1-year follow-up. No other demographic, clinical, or radiographic factors were found to be associated with postoperative ANP severity (P < .05).Conclusions: Preoperative social functioning subscale score of SF-36 scale might be a favorable predictive tool for postoperative ANP in DCM patients who underwent ACDF surgery.

Automated summary

This study aimed to evaluate the predictive value of the preoperative SF-36 scale for postoperative ANP in DCM patients who underwent ACDF surgery. The results showed that the preoperative social functioning subscale score was significantly associated with the severity of postoperative ANP, serving as a reliable indicator for predicting ANP. Preoperative NRS was also found to be correlated with the severity of postoperative ANP.