Quality of Life in Males and Females With Idiopathic Scoliosis Elias Diarbakerli, PT, MSc, , y Anna Grauers, MD, PhD, , z Aina Danielsson, MD, PhD, §, { Allan Abbott, PT, PhD, jj and Paul Gerdhem, MD, PhD , y Study Design. Cross-sectional. Objective. To describe quality of life in males and females with idiopathic scoliosis. Summary of Background Data. Idiopathic scoliosis is a three-dimensional deformity affecting the growing spine. The prevalence of larger curves, requiring treatment, is higher in females. Methods. This cross-sectional study comprised 1519 individu- als with idiopathic scoliosis (211 males) with a mean (SD) age of 35.3 (14.9) years. They all answered the Scoliosis Research Society 22 revised (SRS-22r) questionnaire and EuroQol 5- dimension-index (EQ-5D). Five hundred twenty eight were surgically treated (78 males), 535 were brace treated (50 males), and 456 were untreated (83 males). The SRS-22r subscore (excluding the satisfaction domain), the SRS-22r domains and the EQ-5D index score were calculated. Subgroup analyses based on treatment and age were performed. Statistical compar- isons were performed using analysis of covariance with adjust- ments for age and treatment. A P-value less than 0.05 was considered as statistical significant. Results. The mean (SD) SRS-22r subscore was 4.19 (0.61) in males and 4.05 (0.61) in females (P ¼ 0.010). The males had higher scores on the SRS-22r domains function (4.56 vs. 4.42), pain (4.20 vs. 4.00), and mental health (4.14 vs. 3.92) (all P < 0.05). The mean (SD) EQ-5D index score was 0.85 (0.22) for males and 0.81 (0.21) for females (P ¼ 0.10). There were minor differences when comparing males and females in treatment and age groups, but both treated and untreated groups had reduced quality of life compared with the national norms. Conclusion. When compared with females, males with idio- pathic scoliosis tend to have slightly higher scores in the scoliosis specific SRS-22r but not in the generic quality of life measurement EQ-5D. Quality of life is overall similar between males and females in treatment and age groups, but reduced in comparison with the general population. Key words: brace, EuroQol 5-dimension-index, females, idiopathic, males, normative, quality of life, scoliosis, Scoliosis Research Society 22 revised, surgery. Level of Evidence: 3 Spine 2019;44:404–410 M ost spinal deformities affecting growing individ- uals are of unknown, that is, idiopathic, origin. The prevalence of idiopathic scoliosis among males and females is similar in smaller curves but males are heavily underrepresented among those with larger curves. 1,2 Health related quality of life in individuals with idio- pathic scoliosis has been investigated in a number of studies. Studies comparing the effect of treatment modalities, onset of idiopathic scoliosis, and curve characteristics on quality of life have increased knowledge about individuals with idiopathic scoliosis and their perception on their own well-being. 3–9 Studies on quality of life in individuals with idiopathic scoliosis have mainly targeted females and there is a lack of studies investigating the quality of life in males with idio- pathic scoliosis, especially for adult males. Both males and females with scoliosis have been reported to have more suicidal thoughts and increased alcohol consumption than controls. However, males had greater concerns with their appearance compared with controls, while this was not From the  Department of Clinical Sciences, Intervention and Technology (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; y Department of Orthopaedics, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; z Department of Orthopaedics, Sundsvall and Ha ¨rno ¨ sand County Hospital, Sundsvall, Sweden; § Department of Orthopaedics, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Go ¨ teborg, Sweden; { Department of Orthopaedics, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy at Go ¨ teborg University, Sweden; and jj Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Division of Physiother- apy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linko ¨ping University, Linko ¨ ping, Sweden. Acknowledgment date: June 20, 2018. First revision date: August 4, 2018. Acceptance date: August 9, 2018. The manuscript submitted does not contain information about medical device(s)/drug(s). Vetenskapsra ˚det (SE) (K2013-99X-22268-01-3), H.K.H. Kronprinsessan Lovisas Fo ¨ rening fo ¨ r Barnasjukva ˚ rd, and Swedish Society of Spinal Surgeons funds were received in support of this work. Relevant financial activities outside the submitted work: grants. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Elias Diarbakerli, PT, MSc, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden; E-mail: elias.diarba- kerli@sll.se DOI: 10.1097/BRS.0000000000002857 404 www.spinejournal.com March 2019 SPINE Volume 44, Number 6, pp 404–410 ß 2018 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved. DEFORMITY Copyright © 2019 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.