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Objective compliance data linked with increased brace wear, less curve progression for scoliosis
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Researchers found that providing adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients and their families with additional objective information and feedback about brace compliance increased the number of hours patients wore their orthoses and was linked to less curve progression.
Researchers counseled 93 patients with the use of downloaded compliance data obtained by sensors in the brace and 78 patients received standard advice about brace compliance, but were not given objective digital data. Each patient was required to complete a brace treatment program for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS).
Lori A. Karol
Researchers found patients in the counseled group who completed bracing wore the orthosis for an average of 13.8 hours per day, while non-counseled patients wore the orthosis for 10.8 hours per day. In all, 59% of counseled patients who finished the bracing program did not have curve progression of 6° or more, while 46% in the non-counseled cohort did not have a curve progression of 6° or more. However, 36% of the non-counseled cohort had curve progression of 50° or more or underwent surgery compared with 25% of the counseled cohort, researchers wrote.
“We found that by providing objective data on brace wear to our patients and their families, the use of the brace increased by an average of 3 hours compared to a group of matched adolescents who did not receive wear data. Additionally, those patients who were provided brace use reports had less progression of their scoliosis to surgical magnitudes than those who did not receive the brace reports. Based on the results of this study, we now recommend collecting objective brace compliance data and counseling patients using this data throughout the course of their orthotic management,” Lori A. Karol, MD, lead author of the study, told Spine Surgery Today. – by Robert Linnehan
Reference:
Karol LA, et al. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2016;doi:10.2106/JBJS.O.00359.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.