ArticleEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2020
Minor effect of loss to follow-up on outcome interpretation in the Swedish spine register.
Article in European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Clinical Features of Older Patients with Lumbar Spinal Stenosis Who Discontinued Postoperative Follow-Up.Spine surgery and related research · 2026Article
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- Lower cell number, lateral defect location and milder grade are associated with improved autologous chondrocyte implantation outcome.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2025Article
- 1-year data on patient-reported outcome is enough after surgery for degenerative cervical myelopathy: a cohort study from the Swedish Spine register.Acta orthopaedica · 2025Article
- Reply to Letter: Identifying effective candidates for sacro-iliac joint fusion.Acta orthopaedica · 2024Article
- Patient-reported outcomes after minimally invasive sacro-iliac joint surgery: a cohort study based on the Swedish Spine Registry.Acta orthopaedica · 2024Article
- Postoperative complications after surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis, assessment using two different data sources.Acta neurochirurgica · 2024Article
- Long-term comparison of anterior (ALIF) versus transforaminal (TLIF) lumbar interbody fusion: a propensity score-matched register-based study.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2024Article
- Loss to 5-year follow-up in the population-based Telemark Study: risk factors and potential for bias.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Characteristics and outcomes of patients who did not respond to a national spine surgery registry.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2023Article
- Does loss to follow-up lead to an overestimation of treatment success? Findings from a spine surgery registry of over 15,000 patients.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2023Article
- Return to work after surgery for degenerative cervical myelopathy: a nationwide registry-based observational study.Acta neurochirurgica · 2023Observational
- Does Preoperative Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio Predict Patient-Reported Pain and Functional Outcomes at 12 Months After Lumbar Fusion?International journal of spine surgery · 2022Article
- Predictors of persistent postoperative pain after surgery for idiopathic scoliosis.Journal of children's orthopaedics · 2021Article
- Characteristics and predicted outcome of patients lost to follow-up after degenerative lumbar spine surgery.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2020Article
- Successful Introduction of Full-Endoscopic Lumbar Interlaminar Discectomy in Sweden.International journal of spine surgery · 2020Article
- Loss to follow-up: initial non-responders do not differ from responders in terms of 2-year outcome in a hip arthroscopy registry.Journal of hip preservation surgery · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
background and purposeLoss to follow-up in observational studies may skew results and hamper study reliability. We evaluated the importance of loss to follow-up in the Swedish spine register. PATIENTS: Patients operated in the lumbar spine and scheduled for a postal questionnaire follow-up during part of 2016 were identified. Out of the 351 patients, 203 had responded. After multiple attempts, 115 of the 148 non-responders were reached; 68 returned the complete questionnaire; and 47 answered a brief questionnaire by phone. Analyses were made with the Chi-square test, analysis of covariance or logistic regression. Some analyses were adjusted.
resultsAt baseline, the non-responders were younger than the responders (55 vs 61 years, p < 0.001) and had higher Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) (54 vs 48, p = 0.003), lower SF-36 physical component summary score (PCS) (36 vs 40, p = 0.011) and lower EQ-5D (0.17 vs 0.27, p = 0.018). Mean back pain, leg pain, ODI, EQ-5D, SF-36 mental component summary score (MCS) improved significantly in both groups (all p < 0.001). SF-36 PCS did not improve in the non-responder group (p = 0.063). Non-responders perceived less improvement in back pain (global assessment back 60% vs 72%, p = 0.002). At follow-up, there were no differences in patient-reported outcome measures between the groups (all p ≥ 0.06), with the exception of a lower SF-36 MCS among the non-responders (p = 0.015).
interpretationAfter surgery for lumbar spine degenerative disorders, non-responders achieve similar outcome as responders in the Swedish spine register, with the exception of a lower mental health and less perceived improvement in back pain. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.
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