Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35917922›Full record

ArticleWorld neurosurgery2023

The Effect of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic on Elective Cervical Spine Surgery Utilization and Complications in the United States: A Nationwide Temporal Trends Analysis.

Adem Idrizi, Adam M Gordon, Aaron Lam, Charles Conway, Ahmed Saleh

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in World neurosurgery, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Adem IdriziDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA; SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, College of Medicine, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
Adam M GordonDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA. Electronic address: MMCOrthoresearch1@gmail.com.
Aaron LamDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
Charles ConwayDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
Ahmed SalehDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesAs a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, elective surgeries nationwide were suspended. The objective was to compare temporal trends in patient demographics, case volumes, and postoperative complications of patients undergoing elective cervical spine surgery from pre-COVID-19 (2019-2020 Q1) to post-COVID-19 (2020 Q2-Q4).

methodsThe 2019 to 2020 American College of Surgeon's National Surgery Quality Improvement Program database was queried for common elective cervical spine surgeries. Patients pre-COVID-19 (2019-2020 Q1) were compared with those undergoing surgery during post-COVID-19 (2020 Q2-Q4) protocols. Procedural use, patient demographics, and complications were compared. Linear regression was used to evaluate case volume changes over time. P values less than 0.05 were significant.

resultsIn total, 31,013 patients underwent elective cervical spine surgery in 2019 (N = 16,316) and 2020 (N = 14,697); an overall 10% decline. Compared with the calendar year 2019 through 2020 Q1 mean, elective surgery volume decreased by 21.6% in 2020 Q2 and never returned to prepandemic baseline. The percentage decline in case volume from 2019 to 2020 Q1 to 2020 Q2 was greatest for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (23.3%), followed by cervical decompression (23.4%), posterior cervical fusion (15.0%), and cervical disc arthroplasty and vertebral corpectomy (13.7%). Patients undergoing surgery in 2020 Q2-Q4 had overall greater comorbidity burden (American Society of Anesthesiologists grade 3 and 4) (P < 0.001). From 2019-2020 Q1 versus 2020 Q2-Q4, there was a significant increase in total complication (5.5% vs. 6.8%, P < 0.001), reoperation (1.9% vs. 2.2%, P = 0.048), and mortality (0.25% vs. 0.37%, P = 0.049) rates.

conclusionsElective surgery declined drastically during the second quarter of 2020. Patients undergoing surgery during the pandemic had an overall greater comorbidity burden, resulting in increased total complication and mortality rates over the study period.

Indexed as

COVID-19Spinal FusionCervical VertebraeDiskectomyHumansPandemicsPostoperative ComplicationsRetrospective StudiesUnited StatesACDFCervical disc arthroplastyCervical spineCervical spine fusionComplicationsCOVID-19Telemedicine

Identifiers

PMID35917922
PMCPMC9338825

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.