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Variable in-hospital outcomes for pediatric spine fusion patients affect length of stay
Significant outcome variation exists among more than 7,600 pediatric patients undergoing spine fusion at 38 U.S. children’s hospitals, according to researchers from Colorado that conducted this study.
“Substantial variation exists in reported outcomes for children undergoing spinal surgery in children’s hospitals within the United States,” Mark A. Erickson, MD, and colleagues stated in the study abstract. “Further study is needed to characterize hospital-level factors related to surgical outcome to direct future quality improvement,” they wrote.
Erickson and colleagues divided the patient group based on whether patients had or did not have neurologic impairment. Neurologically impaired patients comprised 28% of the cohort, according to the abstract.
The median hospital length of stay was 5 days for patients who were not neurologically impaired and 7 days for neurologically impaired patients.
Regarding infection, for the neurologically impaired children the in-hospital infection rate was 10% vs. 2% in children without neurologic impairment. In-hospital infection, surgical complications and anterior/posterior surgery (compared to posterior-only surgery) were all associated with a 10-day or longer hospital stay, according to the abstract.
Disclosure: Erickson has no relevant financial disclosures.