ArticleInternational journal of spine surgery2025
Patient Satisfaction Following Lumbar Fusion Is Associated With Functional Status and Pain More Than the Attainment of Minimal Clinically Important Difference: Implications for Value-Based Medicine.
Article in International journal of spine surgery, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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.
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.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Research progress on sagittal balance and minimal clinically important difference after two-level lumbar spondylolisthesis surgery.Frontiers in surgery · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn an era of value-based medicine, patient-perceived benefit and satisfaction are of paramount importance. However, current metrics of success such as the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) do not always correlate with overall patient satisfaction. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand the relationships between self-reported pain, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores, reaching the MCID, and overall patient satisfaction in patients undergoing elective lumbar fusions.
methodsA retrospective study including patients between the ages of 18 and 89 years old who underwent a 1- or 2-level elective lumbar fusion between June 2021 and June 2023. Patients were stratified using this overall level of satisfaction with their procedure. Differences in clinical metrics and patient-reported outcome scores among satisfaction levels were assessed, and predictive analytics were used to determine whether clinical metrics were associated with satisfaction.
resultsA total of 343 patients were included in this study; 81% indicated they were satisfied with their overall outcomes. There were differences in both clinical metrics and patient-reported outcomes based on satisfaction level. Current pain and function were found to be independent predictors of satisfaction, while ODI scores and reaching MCID were not. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Relying on meeting statistically defined benchmarks of success, such as the MCID, may not provide an accurate depiction of procedural success or patient satisfaction, and additional clinically relevant benchmarks should also be assessed.
conclusionsPain and current function were significantly associated with patient satisfaction; therefore, these metrics may play a larger role in patient satisfaction and perceived benefit than assessment through the ODI alone. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3:
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.