Electronic monitoring of scoliosis brace wear compliance

Tariq Rahman,Aaron G Littleton,Whitney Sample,Ed Moran,J Richard Bowen,Stephen Campbell,Kenneth Rogers,Battugs Borkhuu

doi:10.1007/s11832-010-0266-6

Tariq Rahman, Aaron G Littleton + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11832-010-0266-6

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Abstract

Accurate evaluation of patient compliance with scoliosis brace usage has been a challenge for physicians treating patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. This inability to accurately measure compliance has resulted in difficulty in determining brace treatment efficacy. This prospective study was performed to demonstrate the efficacy of using a new electronic brace compliance monitor, the Cricket. The Cricket is a small encased circuit that can be attached to the brace and, by means of a temperature sensor, can record brace wear times. This study included ten subjects with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis who were prescribed the Wilmington scoliosis brace (thoraco-lumbo-sacral orthosis) into which the Cricket sensor was incorporated. Subjects kept a diary of brace wear times. Comparisons of data for the Cricket, subject diaries, and prescribed brace wear were evaluated. The mean error between the diary times and Cricket recording was 2%. Patient compliance was 78%. The Cricket is a reliable, accurate, and sensitive device to determine patient compliance with scoliosis brace usage.

Highlights

Bracing is a non-operative treatment used to contain spine curvature due to adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS)
Purpose Accurate evaluation of patient compliance with scoliosis brace usage has been a challenge for physicians treating patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis
Compliance is defined as the ratio of measured brace wear time to prescribed brace wear time

Summary

Introduction

Bracing is a non-operative treatment used to contain spine curvature due to adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). One of the factors affecting the outcome is brace wear compliance, which provides a reliable measure of internal validity for a study. The lack of actual compliance data has made current reports of brace efficacy for the treatment of idiopathic scoliosis unreliable. Previous studies have used either questionnaires to determine compliance [1, 2] or verbal reports on the number of hours worn to a nurse at the clinic [3, 4]. The number of wear hours reported in these studies was subjective and difficult to verify due to reliance on patient recall, with the possibility of false reporting.

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