Consistent and regular daily wearing improve bracing results: a case-control study

Abstract

[...]the use of Thermobrace in all subjects with a brace prescription has been shown to also contribute to the cognitive behavioral approach [15], which is able to enhance compliance. [...]beyond the classification of patients based on the rate of hours per day of brace wear in relation to the prescription, a further categorization can be applied to distinguish the consistency of brace wear, thus referring to a “daily pattern compliance.” The short-term results were finally explored by considering brace wear adherence combined with the daily pattern compliance. [...]these electronic devices can provide not only the rate of brace wear in respect to the prescribed time, but also a huge amount of data accessible to all the professionals involved in the treating team, and maybe in the future also the parents and family. The basic assumption of independence required by a chi-square test could not be respected, and McNemar’s test was deemed the best measure of association for analyzing categorical variables by using a 2 × 2 table that involves correlated samples. [...]McNemar’s chi-square test, the odds ratio of progression, and stabilization with a 95% confidence interval (IC95) were used.