Kyphosis is Related to QOL across Underlying Diagnoses
Evidence from two cross-sectional studies of osteoporosis supported a statistically significant moderate effect size between kyphosis and QOL.22,25 In a non-randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled repeated measures intervention study, Jang, Hughes, Oh, Kim 32 focused on evaluating a corrective exercise intervention. The results showed significant improvement in the participants’ kyphosis angle and QOL in the intervention group only. The QOL measures for these studies were the Rand 36 and the SF 36, both of which were reported to have adequate validity and reliability.
Two comparative studies focused on the evaluation of scoliosis in adolescents provided evidence that suggested small to moderate inverse associations between kyphosis QOL: r = -0.24624 and r = -0.601.21 Investigators in the first of these studies compared adolescents’ spine measurements according to three groups (severe kyphosis, idiopathic scoliosis, normal controls) and their results showed the poorest level of QOL in the adolescent group with severe scoliosis and the highest level of QOL in the control group of adolescents, suggesting a dose-response association.24 The QOL measure for the studies of scoliosis were varying iterations of the validated scoliosis outcome measure (SRS) which has also shown adequate reliability.
In another study, the investigators8 conducted a retrospective comparative analysis study design that provided evidence of superior improvement in posture angle resulting from a spinal exercise corrective intervention that was accompanied by improved QOL in adolescents with scoliosis. However, these differences were not shown in the conventional exercise-control condition. Despite the differing etiologies of kyphosis, there was a consistent negative association between posture/kyphosis and QOL in these two diverse populations.