Disclosures: Denizen Kocak, MD: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: To test the hypothesis that increased body mass index (BMI) is associated with a reduced efficacy of lumbosacral epidural steroid injections (ESI) in improving patient function in patients with lumbosacral radiculitis as measured by the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI).

Design: Retrospective Review of Case Series Setting : Outpatient Spine Clinic Participants : 95 subjects who received lumbosacral epidural steroid injections between December 2016 and October 2019

Interventions: Lumbosacral Epidural Steroid injection

Main Outcome Measures: Oswestry Disability Index for low back disability was recorded at baseline (prior to ESI) and at 3 months post-ESI.

Results: A simple linear regression was used to predict ODI based on BMI. It appeared that there was a statistically significant ability to predict baseline ODI (F(1,93)=14.0017, p=.0003), with an R2 of 0.131 based on BMI. Although there was a significant change in ODI from baseline to 3 months with a mean decrease of 6.44 (P < 0.0001 on paired t test), there was no significant ability to predict improvement in ODI based on BMI. Conclusions: BMI appears to have a statistically significant predictive value for baseline levels of back-pain related dysfunction as measured by the ODI in patients with lumbosacral radiculitis but does not appear to have a significant effect on improvement in disability following ESI when measured at 3 months post-ESI.

Level of Evidence: Level IV

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/the-effect-of-body-mass-index-on-disability-in-patients-with-lumbosacral-radiculitis-undergoing-epidural-steroid-injection/