The effect of patient age on discharge destination and complications after lumbar spinal fusion


doi: 10.1016/j.jocn.2021.07.006.


Epub 2021 Jul 28.

Affiliations

Item in Clipboard

Brenton Pennicooke et al.


J Clin Neurosci.


2021 Sep.

Abstract

Age is an important patient characteristic that has been correlated with specific outcomes after lumbar spine surgery. We performed a retrospective cohort study to model the effect of age on discharge destination and complications after a 1-level or multi-level lumbar spine fusion surgery. The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) database was used to identify patients who underwent lumbar spinal fusion surgery from 2013 through 2017. Perioperative outcomes were compared across ages 18 to 90 using multivariable nonlinear logistic regressioncontrolling for preoperative characteristics. A total of 61,315 patients were analyzed, with patients over 70 having a higher risk of being discharged to an inpatient rehabilitation center and receiving an intraoperative or postoperative blood transfusion. However, the rates of the other complications and outcomes analyzed in this study were not significantly different as patients age. In conclusion, advanced-age affects the discharge destination after a one- or multi-level fusion and intraoperative/postoperative blood transfusion after a one-level fusion. However, age alone does not significantly affect the risk of the other complications and outcomes assessed in this study. This study will help guide preoperative discussion with advanced-aged patients who are considering a 1-level or multi-level lumbar spine fusion surgery.


Keywords:

Adverse outcomes; Age; Complications; Discharge destination; Lumbar spine fusion; NSQIP; Unplanned readmission.

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn
Share on vk
VK
Share on pinterest
Pinterest
Close Menu