Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40295568›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

Preoperative psychological health impacts pain and disability outcomes following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion for cervical radiculopathy.

Erin E Cunningham, Erin Bigney, Stephan U Dombrowski, Niels Wedderkopp, Neil Manson, Najmeddan Attabib, Edward Abraham, Chris Small, Eden Richardson, Michael M H Yang and 13 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing 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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
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

23 authors.

Erin E CunninghamFaculty of Nursing, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada.
Erin BigneyFaculty of Kinesiology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada.
Stephan U DombrowskiFaculty of Kinesiology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada.
Niels WedderkoppDepartment of Clinical Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Neil MansonCanada East Spine Centre, Saint John, NB, Canada.
Najmeddan AttabibCanada East Spine Centre, Saint John, NB, Canada.
Edward AbrahamCanada East Spine Centre, Saint John, NB, Canada.
Chris SmallCanada East Spine Centre, Saint John, NB, Canada.
Eden RichardsonCanada East Spine Centre, Saint John, NB, Canada.
Michael M H YangDepartment of Clinical Neurosciences, Section of Neurosurgery, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
Eric CrawfordSpine Program, Department of Surgery, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Michael H WeberDivision of Orthopaedics, Department of Surgery, Montreal General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Jerome PaquetCentre de Recherche CHU de Québec, CHU de Québec-Université Laval, Quebec City, QC, Canada.
Sean D ChristieDepartment of Surgery, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Raphaele Charest-MorinCombined Neurosurgical and Orthopedic Spine Program, Department of Orthopedics Surgery, University of British Columbia, Blusson Spinal Cord Center, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Bernard LaRueDépartement de Chirurgie, Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de la Santé, Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.
Andrew NatarajDivision of Neurosurgery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Hamilton HallDepartment of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Y Raja RampersaudSchroeder Arthritis Institute, Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network, Orthopaedics, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Charles FisherCombined Neurosurgical and Orthopedic Spine Program, Department of Orthopedics Surgery, University of British Columbia, Blusson Spinal Cord Center, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Nicolas DeaCombined Neurosurgical and Orthopedic Spine Program, Department of Orthopedics Surgery, University of British Columbia, Blusson Spinal Cord Center, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Chris BaileySchulich School of Medicine, London Health Science Centre Combined Orthopaedic and Neurosurgery Spine Program, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Jeffrey J HébertFaculty of Kinesiology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada. J.Hebert@unb.ca.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This study aimed to estimate the effects of preoperative psychological health on postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing surgery for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy. This retrospective cohort study included data from patients enrolled in the Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network who underwent anterior cervical discectomy and fusion for radiculopathy. Preoperative psychological health was measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8), and depression and severe psychological symptomology were measured with the Mental Component Score of the Short Form Survey-12 (MCS). Surgical outcomes comprised trajectory subgroups for neck pain and arm pain (numeric rating scales) and disability (neck disability index) measured preoperatively and 3, 12, and 24 months after surgery. For each outcome, patients were dichotomized as following either a poor or a fair-to-excellent trajectory. Average treatment effects were estimated with doubly robust propensity score models using inverse probability of treatment weights accounting for multiple confounders. We included data from 352 patients (43.8% female). Approximately half (52.1%) of patients were identified as depressed based on the PHQ-8, while 61.8% and 33.1% were classified as experiencing depression or severe psychological symptomology, respectively, on the MCS. In fully adjusted models, patients with PHQ-8-measured depression were at increased risk of poor postoperative outcomes for disability (risk ratio[95% CI] = 6.73[1.85 to 24.45]) and neck pain (RR[95% CI] = 1.90[1.09 to 3.32]). Patients with MCS-measured depression were at elevated risk of a poor disability outcome (RR[95% CI] = 2.77[1.30 to 5.90]). Patients reporting severe psychological symptomatology had an increased likelihood of poor disability, neck pain, and arm pain outcomes (RR[95% CI] = 1.82 [1.17 to 2.82] to 2.84[1.58 to 5.09]). These findings highlight the high prevalence of negative psychological features and their impacts on neck surgery outcomes. Future research should prioritize the development and evaluation of preoperative interventions to optimize psychological well-being and improve surgical outcomes in this population.

Indexed as

Cervical VertebraeDiskectomyMental HealthNeck PainRadiculopathySpinal FusionAdultAgedDepressionDisability EvaluationFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPreoperative PeriodRetrospective Studies

Identifiers

PMID40295568
PMCPMC12037786

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.