Having a higher socioeconomic status is associated with greater rates of surgical resource usage before spinal fusions, according to a study in the April 2025 issue of The Spine Journal.
Five things to know:
1. Researchers included 996 patients in their final analysis of adult patients who had elective cervical or lumbar spinal fusion from 2020 and 2021.
2. Previsit resource utilization included epidural steroid injection, opioid use, physical therapy and prior spine surgery,
3. Each patient got a “distress score” using the Distressed Communities Index and a socioeconomic status score using the Social Vulnerability Index based on their ZIP code.
4. Patients from a prosperous community were more likely to have seen a spine surgeon and had past spine surgery before their spinal fusion. Patients who lived in a low-risk community were more likely to have seen a spine surgeon before. Marital status didn’t have an effect on resource utilization.
5. The study “found a positive correlation between higher social standing and access to spine surgery and spine surgeons. These findings demonstrate a propensity for earlier evaluation of spine-related conditions among patients from prosperous communities compared to patients from less prosperous communities.”