Previously treated versus untreated scoliosis: are results different?

Outcome measure The threshold of 5° Cobb to define worsened, improved and stabilized curves was considered, average Cobb angle, ATR, TRACE (for aesthetic evaluation) Statistical analyses: Mean and SD were used for descriptive statistics of clinical and radiographic changes. Relative Risk of failure (RR), 95% Confidence Interval (CI), Student’s t, Kruskall Wallis, and chi square test were applied. Results 268 patients were included (226 females), age 13.3 (±1). BRACE Group: 108 (96 females), age 13.2 (±1), Cobb Angle 34±12°, ATR 9.6±0.4, TRACE 5.7. UNTREATED Group: 160 (130 females), age 13.2 (±1), Cobb Angle 33±11° ATR 10.3±0.2°, TRACE 5. No differences among groups at first visit but for TRACE (p<0.05). 49.38% of patients improved in UNTREATED, 43.13 stable, 7.50 worsened vs 35.19, 52.78 and 12.04 for BRACE (p=0.06). The Cobb angle was 28.9 vs 30.1 (p=0.06). The RR of failure for BRACE was 1.6 (IC95%0.86-2.35). No differences among groups for TRACE and ATR. Drop out had results similar to the completers (NS).