Journal Article Ahead of print
PubMed: 42269936 DOI: 10.1016/j.spinee.2026.05.007
Minimal clinically important differences in the Spine Oncology Study Group Outcomes Questionnaire (SOSGOQ2.0) in patients with symptomatic spinal metastases.
Spine J
Authors: A L Versteeg, A Sahgal, I Laufer, L D Rhines, D M Sciubba, J M Schuster, M H Weber, A Lazary, S Boriani, C Bettegowda, M G Fehlings, M J Clarke, P M Arnold, Z L Gokaslan, O Barzilai, N Dea, A Gasbarrini, C Netzer, J J Reynolds, J J Verlaan, C G Fisher
Affiliations
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Division of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- Department of Neurosurgery, New York University Langone Health, New York, New York, USA.
- Department of Neurosurgery, Division of Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas, Houston, Texas, USA.
- Department of Neurosurgery, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra, Long Island Jewish Medical Center and North Shore University Hospital, Northwell Health, Manhasset, New York, USA.
- Department of Neurosurgery, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
- Department of Orthopedics, University of Connecticut, Farmington, Connecticut, USA.
- National Center for Spinal Disorders, Buda Health Center, Budapest, Hungary.
- Post graduate program of orthopedics, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
- Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
- Division of Neurosurgery and Spine Program, University of Toronto and Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- Department of Neurosurgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
- Department of Neurosurgery, The University of Kansas Hospital, Kansas City, KS, USA.
- Department of Neurosurgery, Brown University, Warren Alpert School of Medicine, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
- Department of Neurosurgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA.
- Combined Neurosurgical and Orthopedic Spine Program, Department of Orthopedics Surgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
- Department of Spine Surgery, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy; Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
- Department of Spine Surgery, University Hospital of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
- Department of Spinal Surgery, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, United Kingdom.
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Abstract
BACKGROUND CONTEXT
It is currently unknown what absolute change in Spine Oncology Study Group Outcomes Questionnaire (SOSGOQ2.0) represents a clinically meaningful change for a patient which causes challenges with the interpretation of the SOSGOQ2.0 total score or domain scores.
PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to determine the minimally clinically important difference (MCID) for the SOSGOQ2.0 in patients with spinal metastases.
STUDY DESIGN
An international multicenter prospective observational study by the AO Spine Knowledge Forum Tumor.
PATIENT SAMPLE
patients with spinal metastases who were treated with surgery and/or radiotherapy OUTCOME MEASURES: HRQOL was evaluated using the SOSGOQ2.0 at pre-defined time points METHODS: The MCID values for the SOSGOQ2.0 were determined using both distribution-based as well as anchor-based methods. For the anchor-based method, the post-therapy questions of the SOSGOQ2.0 served as the anchor with response options collapsed into "improvement", "no change" and "deterioration". Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to identify post-therapy items with a correlation of ≥0.30 with the corresponding domain scores. MCID values from the distribution-based methods were derived using the statistical characteristics of the study population and compared to the anchor-based results.
RESULTS
A total of 317 patients had SOSGOQ2.0 data available at baseline and at 12 weeks post-treatment and were included in the final analyses. Anchor-based MCID values for improvement in the physical function, pain, mental health and social function domains were 10.2, 26.0, 14.4 and 17.2 respectively. Compared with the distribution-based approach, anchor-based MCIDs for improvement suggest that the patient-perceived improvement corresponds to a strong level of improvement.
CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study to report MCID values for the SOSGOQ2.0 total score and domain scores. The distribution-based MCID estimates will help both clinicians as well as researchers with the interpretation of the effect of treatment for painful spinal metastases on patient reported HRQOL.
MeSH
Radiotherapy, Quality Of Life, Spinal Diseases, Pain, Neoplasm Metastasis, Patient Reported Outcome Measures, Therapeutics, Spine