Quality of life of adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis according to the Croatian version of the SRS-22r questionnaire

Introduction: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is a threedimensional developmental deformity of the spine that usually develops during periods of abrupt growth, mostly during the adolescent years. Given that the process of psychological and physical development during adolescence is often turbulent, the SRS-22r questionnaire serves as a specific and valuable tool for assessing the quality of life in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis. The Croatian translation and cultural adaptation of this tool was completed in 2021. Although it has been translated, validated, and culturally adapted, it has not yet been widely used in research for assessing the quality of life of adolescents in Croatia, hence, literature on the Croatian version remains limited. Objectives: The study aimed to examine the quality of life of Croatian adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis based on age, gender, school type, recreational activities, place of residence, and orthotics use. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 119 participants aged 10 to 18 years. The Croatian version of the SRS-22r questionnaire was used to assess their quality of life. Results: Participants were most satisfied with function, pain domain, and overall quality of life, while they were least satisfied with body image. Participants attending primary school had significantly better function than those attending secondary school (P = 0.04). Participants engaged in recreational activities had significantly better overall quality of life (P = 0.01), as well as better function and body image(P = 0.04 for both); they were also more satisfied with their treatment (P = 0.03). Participants living in urban areas had significantly better overall quality of life (P = 0.009), better function (P = 0.005), experienced significantly less pain (P = 0.03), had significantly better body image (P = 0.04), and were significantly more satisfied with their treatment (P = 0.05). Conclusion: Based on the statistically significant differences observed in the quality of life of participants with respect to their place of residence and involvement in recreational activities, we suggest conducting further research to better understand these differences in the context of the adolescent population with idiopathic scoliosis from the Croatian-speaking area.