TY - JOUR AU - Kunes, Jennifer A. AU - Raman, Divya AU - Matsumoto, Hiroko AU - Boby, Afrain AU - Garg, Sumeet AU - Pahys, Joshua AU - Roye, Benjamin AU - Vitale, Michael G. AU - Study Group, Pediatric Spine PY - 2022/11/01 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Health-related Quality of Life in Children with Early Onset Scoliosis: Original Research JF - Journal of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America JA - JPOSNA VL - 4 IS - 4 SE - Spine DO - 10.55275/JPOSNA-2022-533 UR - https://www.jposna.org/index.php/jposna/article/view/533 SP - AB - <p><strong>Background: </strong>Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, decreases in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) have been observed in adults and children, with isolation, economic disruption, school closures, and health-related anxiety likely contributing. In this study, we evaluated the impact of COVID-19 on self-reported HRQoL of EOS patients and their caregivers using the Early Onset Scoliosis Questionnaire-24 (EOSQ-24).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Patients with EOS and their caregivers enrolled in the Pediatric Spine Study Group (PSSG) registry with EOSQ scores from the year before the COVID-19 pandemic and the first year during COVID-19 were included. Two years of before-COVID-19 baseline EOSQ scores were recorded for each patient. We recorded patient medical demographics, scoliosis etiology, and comorbidities.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>618 patients met inclusion criteria (255 male, 363 female). All EOSQ subscores increased significantly from pre-COVID to early-COVID (p &lt; 0.001, p &lt; 0.05, respectively), though the mean difference was well below the proposed EOSQ-24 MCID. There was no evidence of change in Combined HRQoL or impact- and satisfaction-related scores between early COVID to late COVID (p &gt; 0.37). When stratified by etiology, there was no evidence of decrease in the HRQoL combined score or other subscores in any subgroup between pre-COVID and during COVID.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Overall, there was no evidence of negative impact on HRQoL by the COVID-19 pandemic for children with EOS or their caregivers. In the future, protective factors contributing to the resilience of this population may be explored further.</p> ER -