Review
doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2022.983931.
eCollection 2022.
Affiliations
Affiliations
- 1 Complex Structure Surgical Sciences and Technologies, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy.
- 2 Spine Surgery, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy.
- 3 Scientific Direction, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy.
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Review
Francesca Salamanna et al.
Front Surg.
.
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doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2022.983931.
eCollection 2022.
Affiliations
- 1 Complex Structure Surgical Sciences and Technologies, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy.
- 2 Spine Surgery, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy.
- 3 Scientific Direction, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy.
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Abstract
In the last decade, numerous studies analyzed and described the surgical outcomes in male and female patients submitted to orthopedic surgery. Although this, the impact of sex/gender on spinal fusion surgery clinical outcomes is still poorly defined. This review systematically maps and synthesizes the scientific literature on sex/gender differences in postoperative outcomes for patients undergoing spinal fusion surgery. The search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science in the last 22 years. Clinical studies evaluating potential sex/gender differences in postoperative outcomes and/or complications, as primary or secondary aim, were included and analyzed. Out of the 1,885 records screened, 47 studies were included. These studies comprised a total of 1,158,555 patients (51.31% female; 48.69% male). About 77% of the analyzed studies reported sex/gender-related differences in postoperative outcomes. Most studies treated patients for lumbar degenerative diseases and more than 55% of them reported a worse postoperative outcome in female patients in terms of pain, disability, health-related quality of life questionnaires, and complications. Differently, a significant heterogeneity across studies on patients treated for cervical and sacral degenerative diseases as well as for spinal deformity and traumatic spinal fracture prevented the understanding of specific sex/gender differences after spinal fusion surgery. Despite this, the present review highlighted those female patients treated for lumbar degenerative spine diseases could require more clinical awareness during postoperative care. The understanding of how sex/gender differences can really affect clinical outcomes after spinal fusion surgeries is mandatory for all spinal pathological conditions to drive clinical research toward oriented and personalized protocols.
Keywords:
clinical data; gender differences; sex; spinal fusion surgery; systematic review.
© 2022 Salamanna, Contartese, Tschon, Borsari, Griffoni, Gasbarrini and Fini.
Conflict of interest statement
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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