Anterior cervical discectomy, fusion linked to higher incidence of mental health diagnosis
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Patients with cervical spondylosis who underwent anterior cervical discectomy and fusion had a greater incidence of a new mental health diagnosis postoperatively compared with patients treated nonoperatively, according to results.
Thomas J. Dowling III, MD, and colleagues categorized patients with cervical spondylosis into two groups based on whether they underwent either anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (n=189) or nonoperative treatment (n=5,242) during the 5-year period. Researchers performed a demographic analysis for each group and analyzed the incidence of new mental health diagnoses, as well as timing of the diagnosis, in relation to the study period.
In his presentation at the North American Spine Society Annual Meeting, Dowling noted 19.4% of the study population developed a new mental health diagnosis, including 31% of patients in the anterior cervical discectomy and fusion group and 19% in the nonoperative group. Patients who underwent anterior cervical discectomy and fusion had an average time to new diagnosis of 479 days vs. 878 days for the nonoperative group, according to Dowling.
“Depression and anxiety were the two most common mental health diagnoses across both surgical and non-surgical cohorts, and there was no statistically significant difference among the diagnoses between groups,” Dowling said.
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Dowling TJ III, et al. Paper 103. Presented at: North American Spine Society Annual Meeting. Sept. 29-– Oct. 2, 2021; Boston (hybrid meeting).
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