Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38030245›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2023

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on surgical volume and outcomes in spine surgery: a multicentre retrospective study in Tokyo.

Yasushi Oshima, Nozomu Ohtomo, Naohiro Kawamura, Akiro Higashikawa, Nobuhiro Hara, Takashi Ono, Yujiro Takeshita, Masayoshi Fukushima, Seiichi Azuma, So Kato and 3 more

Abstract readMulticenter Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–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

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
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

13 authors.

Yasushi OshimaDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery and Spinal Surgery, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Japan yoo-tky@umin.ac.jp.ORCID 0000-0003-4696-1846
Nozomu OhtomoDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery and Spinal Surgery, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Japan.
Naohiro KawamuraUniversity of Tokyo Spine Group (UTSG), Tokyo, Japan.
Akiro HigashikawaUniversity of Tokyo Spine Group (UTSG), Tokyo, Japan.
Nobuhiro HaraUniversity of Tokyo Spine Group (UTSG), Tokyo, Japan.
Takashi OnoUniversity of Tokyo Spine Group (UTSG), Tokyo, Japan.
Yujiro TakeshitaUniversity of Tokyo Spine Group (UTSG), Tokyo, Japan.
Masayoshi FukushimaUniversity of Tokyo Spine Group (UTSG), Tokyo, Japan.
Seiichi AzumaUniversity of Tokyo Spine Group (UTSG), Tokyo, Japan.
So KatoDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery and Spinal Surgery, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Japan.
Yoshitaka MatsubayashiUniversity of Tokyo Spine Group (UTSG), Tokyo, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-2087-5774
Yuki TaniguchiDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery and Spinal Surgery, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Japan.
Sakae TanakaDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery and Spinal Surgery, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Japan.ORCID 0000-0001-9210-9414

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on surgical volume and outcomes in spine surgery.

designA retrospective cohort study using prospectively collected data. SETTING AND

participantsA total of 9935 patients who underwent spine surgery between January 2019 and December 2021 at eight high-volume spine centres in the Greater Tokyo metropolitan area were included. OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measures were the number of surgical cases, perioperative complications and patient-reported outcomes, including numerical rating scales for each body part, Euro quality of life 5-dimension (EQ5D), Neck Disability Index and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI).

resultsThe total number of surgeries in 2020 and 2021 remained lower than that of 2019, with respective percentages of 93.1% and 95.7% compared with the prepandemic period, with a marked reduction observed in May 2020 compared with the same period in 2019 (56.1% decrease). There were no significant differences between the prepandemic and postpandemic groups in the incidence of perioperative complications, although the frequency of reoperation tended to be higher in the postpandemic group (3.04% vs 3.76%, p=0.05). Subgroup analysis focusing on cervical spine surgery revealed significantly worse preoperative EQ5D scores in the postpandemic group (0.57 vs 0.54, p=0.004). Similarly, in lumbar spine surgery, the postpandemic group showed higher levels of leg pain (5.7 vs 6.1 to 0.002) and worse ODI scores (46.2 vs 47.7 to 0.02). However, postoperative outcomes were not different between pre and post-pandemic groups.

conclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted spinal surgeries in Japan, leading to a decrease in surgical volumes and changes in patient characteristics and surgical procedures. However, surgical outcomes remained comparable between the pre and postpandemic periods, indicating the resilience and adaptability of healthcare systems.

Indexed as

COVID-19PandemicsHumansLumbar VertebraeQuality of LifeRetrospective StudiesTokyoTreatment OutcomeORTHOPAEDIC & TRAUMA SURGERYPatient Reported Outcome MeasuresQuality of LifeSpine

Identifiers

PMID38030245
PMCPMC10689418

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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.