Abstract

Doc number: 17

Abstract

Background: Routine screening of scoliosis is a controversial subject and screening efforts vary greatly around the world.

Methods: Consensus was sought among an international group of experts (seven spine surgeons and one clinical epidemiologist) using a modified Delphi approach. The consensus achieved was based on careful analysis of a recent critical review of the literature on scoliosis screening, performed using a conceptual framework of analysis focusing on five main dimensions: technical, clinical, program, cost and treatment effectiveness.

Findings: A consensus was obtained in all five dimensions of analysis, resulting in 10 statements and recommendations. In summary, there is scientific evidence to support the value of scoliosis screening with respect to technical efficacy, clinical, program and treatment effectiveness, but there insufficient evidence to make a statement with respect to cost effectiveness. Scoliosis screening should be aimed at identifying suspected cases of scoliosis that will be referred for diagnostic evaluation and confirmed, or ruled out, with a clinically significant scoliosis. The scoliometer is currently the best tool available for scoliosis screening and there is moderate evidence to recommend referral with values between 5 degrees and 7 degrees. There is moderate evidence that scoliosis screening allows for detection and referral of patients at an earlier stage of the clinical course, and there is low evidence suggesting that scoliosis patients detected by screening are less likely to need surgery than those who did not have screening. There is strong evidence to support treatment by bracing.

Interpretation: This information statement by an expert panel supports scoliosis screening in 4 of the 5 domains studied, using a framework of analysis which includes all of the World Health Organisation criteria for a valid screening procedure.

Details

Title
Screening for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: an information statement by the scoliosis research society international task force
Author
Labelle, Hubert; Richards, Stephens B; De Kleuver, Marinus; Grivas, Theodoros B; Luk, Keith D K; Wong, Hee Kit; Thometz, John; Beauséjour, Marie; Turgeon, Isabelle; Fong, Daniel Y T
Publication year
2013
Publication date
2013
Publisher
BioMed Central
e-ISSN
17487161
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-7161-8-17
ProQuest document ID
1460406388
Copyright
© 2013 Labelle et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.