Abstract
Objectives: To compare mortality and causes of death in scoliotic children with Cerebral palsy (CP) with and without scoliosis surgery.
Methods National population-based registries were searched for children with CP and scoliosis with and without surgery for scoliosis and were analyzed for comorbidities, mortality, and causes of death.
Results: Two hundred and thirty-six had not been operated and 238 had been operated for scoliosis during the median follow-up of 17.8 (IQR 11.7-25.7) and 23.0 (IQR 18.4-28.2) years, respectively. Both groups had similar comorbidities. During the follow-up mortality was higher in the non-surgically treated group than in the surgically treated group (n=38/236, 16% and 8.7 per 1000 follow-up years vs. n=29/238, 12% and 5.3 per 1000 follow-up years, p=0.047). In patients with non-surgical treatment cause of death was respiratory in 76.3% (29/38) and 37.9% (11/29) in patients with surgical treatment of scoliosis (6.6 and 2.0 per 1000 follow-up years, p=0.002). Neurological causes of death were more common in surgically treated patients than in non-surgically treated patients, 44.8% (13/29) and 15.8% (6/38), respectively (3.0 and 1.1 per 1000 follow-up years, p=0.009).
Discussion: Surgical treatment of scoliosis associates to reduced mortality due to respiratory causes in children with cerebral palsy and scoliosis.
Classification of Evidence: This study provides Class IV evidence of the effects of spinal fusion on mortality of children with severe scoliosis due to CP.
- Received June 1, 2023.
- Accepted in final form July 6, 2023.
- © 2023 American Academy of Neurology
AAN Members
We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.
AAN Non-Member Subscribers
Purchase access
Letters: Rapid online correspondence
REQUIREMENTS
You must ensure that your Disclosures have been updated within the previous six months. Please go to our Submission Site to add or update your Disclosure information.
Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.
If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.
Submission specifications:
- Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
- Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.
