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 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 possible differences of the health-related quality of life in patients who underwent TPED for LDH in accordance with sex.

METHODS: Seventy-six patients diagnosed and treated with TPED for LDH with 1 year follow-up were selected and divided into two groups of equal number depending on sex. Their quality of life was evaluated by using the SF-36 before the operation, six weeks, three, six and twelve months postoperatively. A statistical analysis was conducted, in order to compare the 8 scaled scores of the SF-36 combining each time two chronological phases in the total of patients, in each group and between groups.

RESULTS: Fifty-two (68.4%) patients were ≤63 years old, while the rest 24 (31,4%) were >63 years old (mean ±SD = 56,5 ±12,1 years). Apart from the PF domain, the scores were higher in every visit for the two groups, but the change between groups was not significant. Women had a significantly higher increase of PF score in 3 months after TPED and in the interval 6 weeks-3 months comparing with men. However, in the intervals 3 months-6 months and 3 months-12 months men presented significantly higher increase compared to 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 two groups. As regards to the physical functioning, it appears to be a significant difference which is counterpoised over time.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 2.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: TPED for LDH does not present major differences in the improvement of quality of life regarding gender.