Univariate analysis revealed significant improvement at 3- and 12-month follow-up for EQ-5D, ODI, NRS-back pain, and NRS-leg pain (P < .001). Multivariate analysis at 3 months demonstrated that increased age (P < .001), increased preoperative NRS-back pain (P = .001), and worse preoperative ODI (P = .001) resulted in greater improvement in EQ-5D, whereas increased anxiety (MSPQ, P = .015) resulted in less improvement in EQ-5D. Multivariate analysis at 1 year demonstrated that increased age (P = .012) and worse preoperative ODI (P < .001) resulted in greater improvement in EQ-5D, whereas increased anxiety (MSPQ, P < .001) and 90-day complications (P = .006) resulted in less improvement in EQ-5D at 1 year.
CONCLUSION: Significant improvement occurs in all outcomes measures at 3 months and 1 year following lumbar laminectomy and fusion. Additionally, it appears that older patients and those with higher levels of back specific disability (ODI) have greater gains in quality of life at both 3 months and 1 year after surgery. Patients with higher anxiety preoperatively appear to have decreased improvement in quality of life at both 3 months and 1 year postoperatively.