Screening for scoliosis - New recommendations, old dilemmas, no straight solutions

This opinion review considers the prevailing question of whether to screen or not to screen for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. New and improved standards of people-oriented care and person-centredness, as well as improved principles of preventive screening and guideline development, have been postulated and implemented in health care systems and cultures. Recommendations addressing screening for scoliosis differ substantially, in terms of their content, standards of development and screening principles. Some countries have discontinued issuing recommendations. In the last decade, a number of updated and new recommendations and statements have been released. Systematically developed guidelines and recommendations are confronted by consensus and opinion-based statements. The dilemmas and discrepancies prevail. The arguments concentrate on the issues of the need for early detection through screening in terms of the effectiveness of early treatment, on costs and cost-effectiveness issues, scientific and epidemiologic value of screenings, and the credibility of the sources of evidence. The problem matter is of global scale and applies to millions of people. It regards clinical and methodological dilemmas, but also the matter of vulnerable and fragile time of adolescence and, more generally, children’s rights. The decisions need to integrate people’s values and preferences – screening tests need to be acceptable to the population, and treatments need to be acceptable for patients. Therefore we present one more crucial, but underrepresented in the discussion, issue of understanding and implementation of the contemporary principles of person-centred care, standards of preventive screening, and guideline development, in the context of screening for scoliosis.