ArticleGlobal spine journal2026
Impact of Culture Status on Outcomes in Vertebral Osteomyelitis: A Retrospective Cohort Study of 206 Patients.
Article in Global spine journal, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Study DesignRetrospective cohort study.ObjectivesTo compare clinical features and outcomes between culture-positive and culture-negative vertebral osteomyelitis (VO), describe empirical antimicrobial regimens used for culture-negative VO, and identify independent predictors of 1-year recurrence and mortality.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed 252 consecutive patients treated for VO at a tertiary center (2010-2023). Finally, 206 patients were analyzed (173 culture-positive, 33 culture-negative). Demographics, comorbidities, laboratory and imaging findings, microbiology, antimicrobial regimens, and surgical treatment were collected. Antimicrobials were generally administered for ≥6 weeks. Primary outcomes were initial treatment failure, recurrence, 1-year all-cause mortality, and infection-related mortality.ResultsCulture-negative VO showed lower temperature, C-reactive protein, and white blood cell count; higher albumin; and fewer epidural abscesses than culture-positive VO, consistent with a milder phenotype. Initial treatment failure and recurrence occurred in 24/206 (11.7%) and 3/206 (1.5%) patients, respectively. All recurrences occurred in the culture-positive group. One-year all-cause mortality was 17% (29/173) in culture-positive and 24% (8/33) in culture-negative patients (p=0.305); infection-related mortality was 13% and 18%, respectively (p=0.424). Among culture-negative patients, outcomes did not differ between cefazolin-based versus other empirical regimens. Multivariable analysis identified older age, higher Charlson Comorbidity Index, hypoalbuminemia, and absence of surgery as independent predictors of mortality, whereas culture status was not.ConclusionsIn this cohort with high microbiological yield (84%), culture-negative VO presented with milder clinical features and had recurrence and 1-year mortality comparable to culture-positive VO when treated with ≥6 weeks of antimicrobials. Prognosis was driven primarily by host factors rather than culture status.
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.