Determinants of quality of life in degenerative cervical myelopathy: a systematic review.

Current data on the determinants of HRQoL in DCM are limited, contradictory and heterogeneous. Limitations of this systematic review include lack of distinction between DCM subtypes and heterogenous findings amongst the papers in which HRQoL is measured postoperatively or post-diagnosis. This highlights the need for greater standardisation in DCM research to allow further synthesis. Studies of greater precision are necessary to account for HRQoL being complex, multi-factorial and both time and context dependent.