Search

The proportion of patients who undergo lumbar microdiscectomy due to lumbar radiculopathy who are also overweight or obese is high. However, whether high body mass index (BMI) affects clinical outcomes is not well-studied. To investigate the difference in the clinical course between normal weight, overweight, and obese patients with radiculopathy who underwent lumbar microdiscectomy followed by physical therapy and to evaluate whether high BMI is associated with poor recovery. A prospective cohort study with a 12-month follow-up was conducted in a multidisciplinary clinic. We included 583 patients (median [IQR] age: 45 [35–52] years; 41% female) with clinical signs and symptoms of lumbar radiculopathy, consistent with magnetic resonance imaging findings, who underwent microdiscectomy followed by postoperative physical therapy. Outcomes were leg pain and back pain intensity measured with a visual analogue scale, disability measured with the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire at 3 and 12-month follow-ups, and complications. Patients were classified as being normal weight (46.9%), overweight (38.4%), or obese (14.7%). A linear mixed-effects model was used to assess the difference in the clinical course of pain and disability between the three BMI categories. The association between BMI and outcomes was evaluated using univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses. All three patient groups experienced a significant improvement in leg pain, back pain, and disability over 3 and 12-month follow-up. Patients who were overweight, obese, or normal weight experienced comparable leg pain (p=.14) and disability (p=.06) over the clinical course (p=.14); however, obese patients experienced higher back pain (MD=−6.81 [95%CI: −13.50 to −0.14]; p=.03). The difference in back pain scores was not clinically relevant. In the first year following lumbar microdiscectomy, patients demonstrated clinical improvements and complications that were unrelated to their preoperative BMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Design: Prospective cohort study.Objective: To develop and internally validate prognostic models based on commonly collected preoperative data for good and poor outcomes of lumbar microdiscectomy followed by physiotherapy.Summary Of Background Data: Lumbar microdiscectomy followed by physiotherapy is a common intervention for lumbar radiculopathy. Postoperatively, a considerable percentage of people continues to experience pain and disability. Prognostic models for recovery are scarce.Methods: We included 298 patients with lumbar radiculopathy who underwent microdiscectomy followed by physiotherapy. Primary outcomes were recovery and secondary outcomes were pain and disability at 12 months follow-up. Potential prognostic factors were selected from sociodemographic and biomedical data commonly captured preoperatively. The association between baseline characteristics and outcomes was evaluated using multivariable logistic regression analyses.Results: At 12 months follow-up, 75.8% of the participants met the criterion for recovery. Variables in the model for good recovery included: younger age, leg pain greater than back pain, high level of disability, and a disc herniation at another level than L3-L4. The model for poor recovery included: lower educational level, prior back surgery, and disc herniation at L3-L4. Following internal validation, the explained variance (Nagelkerke R) and area under the curve for both models were poor (≤0.02 and ≤0.60, respectively). The discriminative ability of the models for disability and pain were also poor.Conclusion: The outcome of microdiscectomy followed by postoperative physiotherapy cannot be predicted accurately by commonly captured preoperative sociodemographic and biomedical factors. The potential value of other biomedical, personal, and external factors should be further investigated.Level Of Evidence: 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]