Quality of life, physical activity and bone health in idiopathic scoliosis

Idiopathic scoliosis is a deformation of the spine affecting 1-3% of children and adolescents during growth. Severe deformities may lead to pulmonary dysfunction, pain and decreased quality of life. The etiology of the disease remains unknown. However, bone health and its possible role in the development of scoliosis has been discussed the last decade. A large cohort of individuals with idiopathic scoliosis (n=2,057), both adolescents and adults, was used to assess the impact of treatment characteristics, onset of the condition and gender on quality of life and physical activity. Furthermore, a cohort of non-scoliotic individuals (n=272) was assessed for quality of life and physical activity similarly in order to establish reference values. Another cohort of adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis (n=78) was examined and assessed regarding bone health and compared to non-scoliotic adolescents (n=52). We found that quality of life in individuals with idiopathic scoliosis was overall similar many years after treatment and management with marginally lower values for those who had been surgically treated. Gender and onset of idiopathic scoliosis did not have an impact on quality of life. However, the quality of life did not reach the level of the non-scoliotic cohort. Physical activity was found to be similar between individuals with and without idiopathic scoliosis. Our cohort of adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis had lower values at central skeletal sites such as the spine and hip on bone scans compared to the adolescents who did not have scoliosis. Despite this finding, sustained fractures did not differ in adulthood in our cohort of adults with idiopathic scoliosis compared to non-scoliotic adults