Eidt-Koch and Greiner Health Economics Review 2011, 1:7 RESEARCH Open Access Quality of life results of balloon kyphoplasty versus non surgical management for osteoporotic vertebral fractures in Germany Daniela Eidt-Koch1* and Wolfgang Greiner2 Abstract Background: To compare improvement in quality of life (QoL) and symptoms’ relief in vertebral compression fractures (VCF) due to osteoporosis for patients undergoing balloon kyphoplasty (BKP) to those undergoing nonsurgical management (NSM) in a real-life setting. Methods: In this prospective, comparative study, quality-of-life was evaluated in eight centres in Germany between 2005 and 2008, for 82 patients, with the EQ-5D questionnaire, and the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ). Results: BKP patients. | Eidt-Koch and Greiner Health Economics Review 2011 1 7 http content 1 1 7 o Health Economics Review a SpringerOpen Journal RESEARCH Open Access Quality of life results of balloon kyphoplasty versus non surgical management for osteoporotic vertebral fractures in Germany Daniela Eidt-Koch 1 and Wolfgang Greiner2 Abstract Background To compare improvement in quality of life QoL and symptoms relief in vertebral compression fractures VCF due to osteoporosis for patients undergoing balloon kyphoplasty BKP to those undergoing non-surgical management NSM in a real-life setting. Methods In this prospective comparative study quality-of-life was evaluated in eight centres in Germany between 2005 and 2008 for 82 patients with the EQ-5D questionnaire and the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire RMDQ . Results BKP patients demonstrated a statistical and clinical significant higher improvement in EQ-5D than NSM patients and from baseline to 12 months respectively. Moreover BKP patients showed a clinically relevant improvement in the RMDQ by from baseline to 12 months whereas NSM patients had no significant improvement in the RMDQ. Conclusions This study demonstrates for VCF patients that in real-life quality of life for BKP patients improves more than for NSM patients confirming the results of a large randomized clinical trial. Keywords osteoporosis vertebral compression fracture quality of life balloon kyphoplasty Germany Background The social burden of osteoporosis has been increasing during the last decades worldwide due to aging of populations and potentially to changes in life style. The WHO has ranked osteoporosis among the ten most important diseases Osteoporosis has been recognized as an established and well-defined disease that affects more than 75 million people in the United States Europe and Japan. It causes more than million fractures annually worldwide of which more than million occur in the Americas and Europe
