The Quality of Life of the Patients with Thoracic Ossification of the Ligamentum Flavum after Surgery Using EQ‐5D‐5L

Objective There is a lack of studies on the quality of life (QoL) after posterior laminectomy in patients with thoracic ossification of the ligamentum flavum (TOLF), and risk factors associated with poor prognosis remain controversial. Therefore, the present study was conducted to illustrate the QoL for TOLF patients after surgery and determine its relationship with their demographic, surgery‐related, clinical characteristics and imaging data. Methods One hundred and eighteen patients diagnosed with thoracic myelopathy because of TOLF were enrolled in this retrospective study. They all underwent posterior decompressive laminectomy from August 2010 to January 2022. The QoL was evaluated based on the EQ‐5D‐5L. Collecting gender, age, number of operations, compressed segments, Frankel grade, complications, body mass index (BMI), symptoms and duration, modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (mJOA) score (preoperative), follow‐up time and type of ossification, increased signal on Sagittal T2‐weighted Images (ISST2I), occupancy rate and analyzing by Mann–Whitney U‐test, Kruskal–Wallis test, the χ2‐test, and logistic regression tests. Results Average follow‐up 70.8 months (18–149), the mean age was 59.74 ± 9.81 years and the mean score for the QoL based on the EQ‐5D‐5 L and visual analogue scale (VAS) score were 0.71 ± 0.28 and 78.88 ± 10.21 at the final follow‐up. Moderate and severe problems were found in the pain/discomfort in 22.0% of the patients. These mobility and usual activities numbers were slightly higher (24.6% and 30.4%, respectively). The mean scores for QoL and VAS were significantly higher in patients with mild and moderate neurological impairment, normal BMI,