Browsing by Author "Garcia, Alessandra N"

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    Long-term impact of obesity on patient-reported outcomes and patient satisfaction after lumbar spine surgery: an observational study.
    (Journal of neurosurgery. Spine, 2020-09) Park, Christine; Garcia, Alessandra N; Cook, Chad; Shaffrey, Christopher I; Gottfried, Oren N

    Objective

    Obese body habitus is a challenging issue to address in lumbar spine surgery. There is a lack of consensus on the long-term influence of BMI on patient-reported outcomes and satisfaction. This study aimed to examine the differences in patient-reported outcomes over the course of 12 and 24 months among BMI classifications of patients who underwent lumbar surgery.

    Methods

    A search was performed using the Quality Outcomes Database (QOD) Spine Registry from 2012 to 2018 to identify patients who underwent lumbar surgery and had either a 12- or 24-month follow-up. Patients were categorized based on their BMI as normal weight (≤ 25 kg/m2), overweight (25-30 kg/m2), obese (30-40 kg/m2), and morbidly obese (> 40 kg/m2). Outcomes included the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and the visual analog scale (VAS) for back pain (BP) and leg pain (LP), and patient satisfaction was measured at 12 and 24 months postoperatively.

    Results

    A total of 31,765 patients were included. At both the 12- and 24-month follow-ups, those who were obese and morbidly obese had worse ODI, VAS-BP, and VAS-LP scores (all p < 0.01) and more frequently rated their satisfaction as "I am the same or worse than before treatment" (all p < 0.01) compared with those who were normal weight. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that the BMI cutoffs for predicting worsening disability and surgery dissatisfaction were 30.1 kg/m2 and 29.9 kg/m2 for the 12- and 24-month follow-ups, respectively.

    Conclusions

    Higher BMI was associated with poorer patient-reported outcomes and satisfaction at both the 12- and 24-month follow-ups. BMI of 30 kg/m2 is the cutoff for predicting worse patient outcomes after lumbar surgery.
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    Measurement Properties of the Oswestry Disability Index in Recipients of Lumbar Spine Surgery.
    (Spine, 2021-01) Cook, Chad E; Garcia, Alessandra N; Wright, Alexis; Shaffrey, Christopher; Gottfried, Oren

    Study design

    This is an observational study on the measurement properties of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) version 1.0.

    Objectives

    To (1) determine the construct validity of the tool, specifically structural validity; (2) analyze the criterion validity of the tool, specifically concurrent validity against proxy measures of pain, function, and quality of life and predictive validity of each item to proxy measures of disability; and (3) reliability of the tool, specifically internal consistency.

    Summary of background data

    We endeavored to investigate the measurement properties of the ODI on a spine surgery population to test the assumption that a more disabled population may influence the properties of the tool.

    Methods

    Data were pulled from the Quality Outcomes Database (QOD) Spine Registry. A total of 57,199 participants who underwent primary or revision lumbar spine surgeries were included. Structural validity was assessed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, concurrent validity, predictive validity by odds ratios, and internal consistency by Cronbach alpha. The Visual Analog Scale for back pain, two standard open questions, and the EuroQol 5 Dimension/Visual Analogue Scale were included as proxy measures of pain, function, and quality of life, respectively. Hospital readmission, return to operating room for treatment and revision surgery (all within 30 days) were included as proxy measures of disability to assess the predictive validity of each ODI item.

    Results

    The ODI demonstrated a two-factor structural solution, which explained 54.9% of the total variance. Fair internal consistency (0.74-0.77), and fair criterion validity (concurrent) and significant findings with predictive validity (P < 0.01) substantiated the use of each item of the ODI as well as the summary score and ODI thresholds.

    Conclusions

    Our study lends value to a burgeoning repository of evidence that suggests the ODI is a useful tool for capturing outcomes in clinical practice. We recommend its continued use in clinical practice.Level of Evidence: 4.
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    Systematic review of diagnostic accuracy of patient history, clinical findings, and physical tests in the diagnosis of lumbar spinal stenosis.
    (European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 2020-01) Cook, Christian Jaeger; Cook, Chad E; Reiman, Michael P; Joshi, Anand B; Richardson, William; Garcia, Alessandra N

    Purpose

    To update evidence of diagnostic potential for identification of lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) based on demographic and patient history, clinical findings, and physical tests, and report posttest probabilities associated with test findings.

    Methods

    An electronic search of PubMed, CINAHL and Embase was conducted combining terms related to low back pain, stenosis and diagnostic accuracy. Prospective or retrospective studies investigating diagnostic accuracy of LSS using patient history, clinical findings and/or physical tests were included. The risk of bias and applicability were assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS 2) tool. Diagnostic accuracy including sensitivities (SN), specificities (SP), likelihood ratios (+LR and -LR) and posttest probabilities (+PTP and -PTP) with 95% confidence intervals were summarized.

    Results

    Nine studies were included (pooled n = 36,228 participants) investigating 49 different index tests (30 demographic and patient history and 19 clinical findings/physical tests). Of the nine studies included, only two exhibited a low risk of bias and seven exhibited good applicability according to QUADAS 2. The demographic and patient history measures (self-reported history questionnaire, no pain when seated, numbness of perineal region) and the clinical findings/physical tests (two-stage treadmill test, symptoms after a March test and abnormal Romberg test) highly improved positive posttest probability by > 25% to diagnose LSS.

    Conclusion

    Outside of one study that was able to completely rule out LSS with no functional neurological changes none of the stand-alone findings were strong enough to rule in or rule out LSS. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.
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    The Influence of Unemployment and Disability Status on Clinical Outcomes in Patients Receiving Surgery for Low Back-Related Disorders: An Observational Study.
    (Spine surgery and related research, 2021-01) Cook, Chad E; Garcia, Alessandra N; Shaffrey, Christopher; Gottfried, Oren

    Introduction

    Employment status plays an essential role as a social determinant of health. Unemployed are more likely to have a longer length of hospital stay and a nearly twofold greater rate of 30 day readmission than those who were well employed at the time of back surgery. This study aimed to investigate whether employment status influenced post-surgery outcomes and if so, the differences were clinically meaningful among groups.

    Methods

    This retrospective observational study used data from the Quality Outcomes Database Lumbar Registry. Data refinement was used to isolate individuals 18 to 64 who received primary spine surgeries and had a designation of employed, unemployed, or disabled. Outcomes included 12 and 24 month back and leg pain, disability, patient satisfaction, and quality of life. Differences in descriptive variables, comorbidities, and outcomes measures (at 12 and 24 months) were analyzed using chi-square and linear mixed-effects modeling. When differences were present among groups, we evaluated whether they were clinically significant or not.

    Results

    Differences (between employed, unemployed, and disabled) among baseline characteristics and comorbidities were present in nearly every category (p<0.01). In all cases, those who were disabled represented the least healthy, followed by unemployed, and then employed. Clinically meaningful differences for all outcomes were present at 12 and 24 months (p<0.01). In post hoc analyses, differences between each group at nearly all periods were found.

    Conclusions

    The findings support that the health-related characteristics are markedly different among employment status groups. Group designation strongly differentiated outcomes. These findings suggest that disability and unemployment should be considered when determining prognosis of the individual.