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.