Quality-of-Life Evaluation of Patients Undergoing Lumbar Discectomy Using Short Form 36

BACKGROUND Back pain is one of the most common health problems for which physicians are consulted, and it can considerably decrease the quality of life of patients during a great part of their lives. OBJECTIVES Our study was designed for assessing the improvement in the quality of life of patients undergoing lumbar discectomy for chronic low back pain. PATIENTS AND METHODS We included 148 patients with chronic low back pain in the analytic observational study. Using the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), we evaluated the quality of life before and 6 and 12 months after lumbar discectomy. RESULTS Physical and mental health scores of patients significantly improved after 6 and 12 months of lumbar discectomy. The mean improvement in physical health scores was significantly higher in female patients than in male patients. However, the improvement in mental health scores was not significantly difference between the 2 sexes and the educational and body mass index (BMI) groups. CONCLUSIONS Lumbar discectomy improves both the physical and mental health subscale of the quality of life in patients with chronic disc herniation.