Predicting brace holiday eligibility in juvenile idiopathic scoliosis

The psychological effects of scoliosis bracing can be difficult, and thus clinicians sometimes recommend a brace holiday when the curve corrects to less than 25°. However, the clinical indications for taking a break from the brace before reaching maturity have yet to be described. We hypothesized there would be a relationship between brace holiday eligibility and degree of curve at presentation, change in curve magnitude while bracing, and level of bracing compliance.

A retrospective cohort study at a single institution was performed from 2016 to 2022. Objective brace compliance I-button data were collected on patients aged 3–9 years old. Patients with other etiologies besides idiopathic scoliosis before the age of 10 were excluded. Binary logistic regression was performed to determine the effect of significant variables on the likelihood of brace holiday.

Fifty-six patients met inclusion criteria. Of these, 20 were able to get a brace holiday. Patients with higher brace compliance and larger in-brace curve correction were more likely to get a brace holiday (P = 0.015, 0.004). Patients with higher BMIs and larger curves at initial presentation were less likely to get a brace holiday (P = 0.002, 0.014).

Compliant brace wearers with good in-brace correction are most likely to be eligible for a brace holiday. While some elements remain immutable, others are modifiable, such as bracing compliance. Understanding how outcomes differ between patients who do and do not take a brace holiday will be crucial to elucidating if the psychological benefit of taking a break from the brace can be justified.