Applicability of randomized controlled trial evidence on surgery for lumbar disc herniations to clinical reality: a comparison with the nationwide FinSpine registry
The clinical heterogeneity of the RCTs, non-representative patient populations, incomplete reporting of patient characteristics and poor adherence to treatment groups limit generalizability and applicability of the existing RCTs' results. Our findings mark a need for future pragmatic RCTs as well as clinical registry-based studies to improve the evidence for decision making in real-life settings.
Authors
- Ida Rantalaiho (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6203-1900)
- Katri Pernaa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8325-0379)
- Jukka Huttunen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9440-7917)
- Henri Salo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6374-9444)
- Antti Malmivaara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9042-4450)
- Nikolai Klimko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8150-7502)
Institutions
- University of Turku (FI)
- University of Eastern Finland (FI)
- Turku University Hospital (FI)
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (FI)
- Kuopio University Hospital (FI)
- Invalidisäätiö (FI)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research
- Published
- 2025-11-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s13018-025-06401-y
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.47