Mental Health Recovery After Surgery for DCM: Comparing Trajectory Modeling and Clinical Threshold Classification

Design and population

A re-analysis of 938 adults from three international studies who had surgery for a spinal cord compression condition in the neck called degenerative cervical myelopathy.

Groups compared

Patients were sorted into mental health recovery patterns two different ways — one data-driven method that groups patients by the shape of their recovery curve, and one simpler clinical rule based on whether their score crossed a cutoff.

Main outcomes

Which recovery pattern each patient fell into, how the two methods agreed, and how well each predicted recovery in neck disability and neurological function.

Analyses

The two classification methods were applied to the same patients and compared on how often they agreed and how well they explained physical recovery.

The results will appear here once the paper is accepted.