Table 2.
Preoperative and 1-year postoperative data regarding age, smoking, duration of back and leg pain, consumption of analgesics, and estimated walking distances. Elderly is defined as those aged ≥65 years, and younger refers to the sex-matched comparison group aged 20–64
| Preoperatively |
Postoperatively |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elderly | Younger | p-value | Elderly | Younger | p-value | |
| Age, mean (SD) | 71 (5) | 43 (10) | ||||
| Sex (M/F), % | 53/47 | 55/45 | 0.2 | |||
| Smoking, % | 11 | 21 | < 0.001 | NA | NA | NA |
| Months of back pain, % | 0.1 | NA | NA | NA | ||
| Had no back pain | 6 | 6 | ||||
| > 3–12 | 43 | 46 | ||||
| > 12–24 | 16 | 16 | ||||
| > 24 | 22 | 19 | ||||
| Months of leg pain, % | 0.004 | NA | NA | NA | ||
| Had no leg pain | 1 | 1 | ||||
| ≤ 3 | 16 | 18 | ||||
| > 3–12 | 49 | 53 | ||||
| > 12–24 | 18 | 15 | ||||
| > 24 | 16 | 13 | ||||
| Analgesics, % | 0.4 | < 0.001 | ||||
| None | 11 | 12 | 45 | 51 | ||
| Intermittent | 28 | 29 | 33 | 32 | ||
| Regular | 62 | 60 | 22 | 17 | ||
| Walking distance, % | < 0.001 | < 0.001 | ||||
| ≤ 100 m | 48 | 32 | 13 | 4 | ||
| > 100–500 m | 25 | 21 | 18 | 8 | ||
| > 500–1,000 m | 12 | 16 | 16 | 11 | ||
| > 1,000 m | 15 | 31 | 53 | 77 | ||
NA: not applicable.