Obesity influences the results of degenerative disorder treatments, according to a Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial presented at the North American Spine Society annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
Researchers compared patients with a BMI of more than 30 and BMI less than 30 and found that, regardless of whether the patients were treated operatively or non-operatively, they improved from baseline in every primary outcome at a four-year follow-up. However, degenerative spondylolisthesis patients who were obese had a higher postoperative infection rate and twice the reoperation rate than non-obese patients.
Surgery was effective in both BMI groups for stenosis and degenerative spondylolisthesis. The researchers also found that nonoperative treatment may not be the best option for obese patients, as those who received non-operative treatment for stenosis experienced the worst outcomes in all primary outcome measures.
Read the NASS release on obesity among spine surgery patients.
Read other coverage on spine surgery:
- Study: In-Hospital Death More Likely for Revision Spine Surgery Patients
- Study: Growing Rods for Childhood Scoliosis Treatment Likely to Cause Autofusion
- First Embryonic Stem Cell Treatment in a Human Used to Treat Spinal Cord Injury
Researchers compared patients with a BMI of more than 30 and BMI less than 30 and found that, regardless of whether the patients were treated operatively or non-operatively, they improved from baseline in every primary outcome at a four-year follow-up. However, degenerative spondylolisthesis patients who were obese had a higher postoperative infection rate and twice the reoperation rate than non-obese patients.
Surgery was effective in both BMI groups for stenosis and degenerative spondylolisthesis. The researchers also found that nonoperative treatment may not be the best option for obese patients, as those who received non-operative treatment for stenosis experienced the worst outcomes in all primary outcome measures.
Read the NASS release on obesity among spine surgery patients.
Read other coverage on spine surgery:
- Study: In-Hospital Death More Likely for Revision Spine Surgery Patients
- Study: Growing Rods for Childhood Scoliosis Treatment Likely to Cause Autofusion
- First Embryonic Stem Cell Treatment in a Human Used to Treat Spinal Cord Injury