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THE SHORT FORM-36 HEALTH SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE IN SPINE SURGERY

Centre for Spinal Studies and Surgery, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK.

J. Shepperd, FRCS, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon

Conquest Hospital, The Ridge, St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex TN37 7RD, UK.

Correspondence should be sent to Mr M. Grevitt at 46 Aldershot Road, Fleet, Hampshire GU13 9NT, UK.

The Short Form-36 (SF-36) health questionnaire has been put forward as a general measure of outcome in health care and has been evaluated in several recent studies in the UK. We report its use in three groups of patients after spinal operations and have compared it with the Oswestry and Low Back Pain disability scales.

There was a significant correlation between all variables of the SF-36 and the low-back scores. The mental-health items had the weakest correlation. Our study shows that the SF-36 questionnaire is valid and has internal consistency when applied to these patients.