Letter to the editor concerning “Do we have the right PROMs for measuring outcomes in lumbar spinal surgery?” by O.M. Stokes et al. Eur Spine J (2017) 26:816–824

Excerpt

With great interest, we have read the narrative review written by O.M. Stokes and colleagues entitled “Do we have the right PROMs for measuring outcomes in lumbar spinal surgery?” [1]. The authors reviewed patient-reported outcome measures that are used to assess outcome in spinal surgery. One of their main findings was that the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) is the most commonly used outcome measure for spinal conditions. Within the discussion section, the authors briefly mention the existence of a modified version of the ODI which removes the question regarding sex life disability, but they do not seem to report when and if such a modified version was used. This modified version has several advantages over the original ODI, and therefore, we wanted to provide some more insight in this matter and build a platform for further discussion. …