Role of the Self-Administered, Self-Reported History Questionnaire to Identify Types of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: A Sensitivity Analysis

Study Design: Case-control design. Purpose: To evaluate the role of the self-administered, self-reported history questionnaire (SSHQ) in identifying types of lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). Overview of Literature: Diagnosis of types of LSS is controversial. Methods: A total of 235 patients with LSS were asked to respond to the SSHQ. All of these patients recovered following surgical treatment. The classification of LSS patients was based on history, physical examinations, and imaging studies. It is considered to be the gold standard. Radicular and neurogenic claudication types of LSS were based on the SSHQ developed by Konno et al. Two categories of LSS were determined based on the SSHQ tool and gold standard. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to evaluate the diagnostic value of the SSHQ. Results: The mean age of patients was 59.4 years. According to the criteria for gold standard, patients were diagnosed with the radicular type (n=103), and neurogenic claudication type (n=132). The questionnaire had desirable sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy in categorizing the two types of LSS: 97.8%, 66.6%, and 96.8% for the radicular type, and 97.0%, 80.0%, and 95.7% for the neurogenic claudication type. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the SSHQ is a reliable and a valid measure and it may be a clinical diagnosis support tool for identifying patients with two types of LSS.