ArticleActa orthopaedica2025
Return to work within 2 years of lumbar fusion: a prospective cohort study.
Article in Acta orthopaedica, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Return to work following traumatic fractures of the thoracolumbar spine without spinal cord injury: a scoping review.Acta orthopaedica · 2026Article
- Postoperative pain improvement in obese patients is not associated with long-term weight reduction after lumbar fusion surgery.Brain & spine · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
background and purposeReturn to work is an important objective and measure of treatment success in the working-age population. Many patient-related factors have been shown to be associated with failure to resume working postoperatively. The aim of this longitudinal database study was to determine return to work rates in a 24-month follow-up after lumbar fusion. We also evaluated whether return to work was affected by the physical demand of work or the preoperative dominance of leg or back pain.
methods348 consecutive patients available to the workforce underwent lumbar fusion. Return to work at 12 and 24 months was evaluated by patient questionnaires. Patients rated the physical demand of work into 3 categories: light, moderately demanding, or demanding. The surgeon identified the predominant symptom preoperatively, dividing patients into back and leg pain groups.
resultsReturn to work was 69% (95% confidence interval [CI] 64-73) and 76% (CI 71-81), at 12- and 24-month follow-ups, respectively. Patients in physically demanding work were less likely to resume working than patients in light work (63% vs 86% at 24 months, respectively). The predominant symptom did not affect return to work.
conclusionIn patients of working age, three-quarters of lumbar spine fusion patients returned to work within 2 years of surgery. Work absenteeism was higher in physically demanding occupations and only 60% of the patients with predominant leg pain returned to their physically heavy occupation in the first year following lumbar fusion.
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