Prevalence and Severity of Preoperative Disabilities in Iranian Patients With Radiculopathy From Cervical Disc Herniation

Abstract

Background: Patients with cervical disc herniation (CDH) may present axial neck pain, radiculopathy, myelopathy separately or all these outcomes together. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and severity of preoperative disabilities in Iranian patients with radiculopathy from CDH and compared these patients with those from other countries. Patients and Methods: In this retrospective study, medical records (including demographic characteristics, preoperative clinical presentations, and neck disability index score (NDI)) of the 93 patients (42 female, 51 male) with a mean age of 42.7 ± 9.5 (ranged; 23-71 years old) who had underwent surgery due to radiculopathy from cervical disc herniation between March 2009 and December 2013 in our orthopedic department were studied. Chi-square, Mann-Whitney, and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to compare and correlate the variables. Results: The most common symptoms of our patients included pain (95.7%) and paresthesia (79.6%), while a positive Spurling test was the most common sign (68.8%). The mean NDI in our patients was 47.30% ± 12.81% (ranged; 28-66%) and the most common type of disability was severe disability. We could not find any significant correlation between NDI and sex, age, level or number of herniated discs but as the patient’s age increased, the probability of multilevel disc involvement also increased. Conclusions: Iranian patients with CDH usually consented to surgery while they had severe disability. In comparison with developed countries, it seems that Iranian patients with CDH present too late to be treated effectively.