Early surgery with antibiotics treatment had better clinical outcomes than antibiotics treatment alone in patients with pyogenic spondylodiscitis: a retrospective cohort study

Table 3 Quality of life outcome measures in the Group 1 and Group 2 treatment groups at 12-month follow-up

	Group 1: Antibiotics only (n = 26)^b	Group 2: Early surgery with antibiotics (n = 35)^b	P value
Gender, n (%)
Male	18 (69.2%)	26 (74.3%)	0.663
Female	8 (30.8%)	9 (25.7%)
Age (in years)
Mean (SD)	62.0 (13.8)	58.4 (14.8)	0.348
Range	30–85	16–82
Pre-treatment kyphosis angle^a
Mean (SD)	+11.765 (8.4780)	+11.071 (7.2817)	0.741
Range	1.2–35.0	1.7–29
VAS score for back pain
Mean (SD)	1.7 (1.7)	0.8 (1.4)	0.034
ODI score
Mean (SD)	14.5 (12.9)	8.8 (8.4)	0.048

VAS visual analogue pain scale, ODI Oswestry Disability Index
^aKyphosis angle: unit in degrees; positive value = kyphosis, negative value = lordosis
^bA substantial number of patients in both groups were unwilling or unable to contact by telephone to complete the follow-up questionnaire used to assess VAS and ODI after discharge

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