The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Spine Surgery in Central Europe: A Questionnaire-Based Study

Abramović, Anto; Lener, Sara; Grassner, Lukas; Thaler, Martin; Pinggera, Daniel; Freyschlag, Christian F.; Thomé, Claudius; Hartmann, Sébastian

doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2021.08.106

Cited by 4 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In spine surgery, elective surgical caseloads were drastically decreased in efforts to reduce unnecessary exposure, as well as to preserve resources. 1,2,18 Wordie and Tsirikos (2021) 19 even demonstrated a drop in patient referrals to spine surgeons from primary care colleagues. Many patients who were referred were evaluated through telemedicine techniques, with histories taken and even physical examinations performed over video conferences.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In spine surgery, elective surgical caseloads were drastically decreased in efforts to reduce unnecessary exposure, as well as to preserve resources 1,2,18 . Wordie and Tsirikos (2021) 19 even demonstrated a drop in patient referrals to spine surgeons from primary care colleagues.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the wake of the pandemic, the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had unprecedented effects on the health care system. While some effects may have been anticipated at the start of the pandemic, including the decreased rate of elective surgeries, shifts to telemedicine, and diversion of personnel to nonsurgical environments, other effects, such as the increased prevalence of depression and anxiety, have had a more insidious onset 1–4 . Several authors have reported an increased prevalence of a variety of mental health problems globally, including stress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia, among other psychological symptoms attributed to the current pandemic 5–7 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While some effects may have been anticipated at the start of the pandemic, including the decreased rate of elective surgeries, shifts to telemedicine, and diversion of personnel to nonsurgical environments, other effects, such as the increased prevalence of depression and anxiety, have had a more insidious onset. [1][2][3][4] Several authors have reported an increased prevalence of a variety of mental health problems globally, including stress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia, among other psychological symptoms attributed to the current pandemic. [5][6][7] Torales and colleagues (2020) reported major depression increased by a prevalence of 7% after the outbreak of COVID-19.7 Labeled a "co-occurring psychiatric epidemic" by Hossain et al (2020), 3 the effect of COVID-19 on mental health has not discriminated by age, affecting adolescents and elderly alike.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Coronavirus Disease 2019 Shutdown Did Not Affect Mental Health Scores in Lumbar Decompression Patients in a Large Metropolitan Region

Hartman

Nie²,

MacGregor³

et al. 2023

Clinical Spine Surgery: A Spine Publication

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Study Design: Retrospective study. Objective: To evaluate the effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) shutdown in a large metropolitan area on mental health scores of spine patients undergoing lumbar decompression in the preoperative and early postoperative phases. Summary of Background Data: Global mental health has been demonstrated to be negatively affected by COVID-19 shutdowns. Preoperative mental health affects outcomes in spine patients, and the effect of COVID-19 shutdowns on mental health in this population is unclear. Patients and Methods: Patients were retrospectively identified from a single orthopedic spine surgeon registry. Patients were divided into 2 cohorts, separated by the date of surgery on or after March 20, 2020, the date of local shutdown due to COVID-19. After division, patients were propensity score matched for age, sex, ethnicity, common comorbidities, body mass index, preoperative visual analog scale back and leg pain scores, and preoperative Oswestry Disability Index. Perioperative characteristics were observed and recorded. Mental health scores, 12-item Short Form Mental Component Score, and 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire 9 were collected preoperatively, at 6 weeks, and at 12 weeks and compared between cohorts through Student t tests. Results: Three hundred thirty-four patients were identified, with 184 patients remaining after propensity score matching. Of the remaining 184 patients, 119 patients were identified as having surgery within the 2 years before the shutdown (“Pre-Shutdown”), whereas 65 patients had surgery within the 2 years after shutdown (“Post-Shutdown”). There were no significant differences between Pre-Shutdown and Post-Shutdown cohorts with regard to either Short Form Mental Component Score or Patient Health Questionnaire-9 at any time period evaluated (P > 0.050, all). Conclusion: The COVID-19 shutdown in a large metropolitan area did not affect preoperative or early postoperative mental health in patients undergoing lumbar decompression. However, each cohort was matched for preoperative pain and disability scores, which may have adversely been affected by the shutdown.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Coronavirus Disease 2019 Shutdown Did Not Affect Mental Health Scores in Lumbar Decompression Patients in a Large Metropolitan Region

Hartman

Nie²,

MacGregor³

et al. 2023

Clinical Spine Surgery: A Spine Publication

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The existing literature covering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on spinal surgery mainly focusses on the changing neurosurgical workload (i.e., numbers of referrals, emergency attendances, surgeries performed), infection rates, and the efficacy of COVIDrelated implementations within the service 2,3,9,[11][12][13]35,41,44,[46][47][48][49] . Spinal surgery case volume was reported to have decreased by 52-70% over the pandemic 10,35 .…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 and Spontaneous Resolution of Lumbar Disk Prolapse: A Retrospective Cohort Study of Patients Awaiting Microdiscectomy

Hutton,

Mohamed,

Mehmood

et al. 2023

J Neurol Surg A Cent Eur Neurosurg

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction: Between individual patients with lumbar disc prolapse (LDP), the natural course of disease is significantly variable. Spontaneous resolution is reported to occur in up to 70% of cases. However, we currently cannot predict for whom and when this will occur. Neurosurgical intervention is indicated for LDP patients with non-tolerable pain after at least 8-12 weeks of conservative management, or significant neurological deficit. Channelling essential resources in the National Health Service (NHS) to fight the COVID-19 pandemic led to the postponement of most elective operations, including microdiscectomy. This left many LDP patients previously considered to be surgical candidates with conservative-only options in the interim. To our knowledge, we are the first centre to report the specific impact of the peri- and post-pandemic period on waiting list times, delayed elective microdiscectomy, and the incidence of spontaneous LDP resolution. Methods: Retrospective case series of a prospectively collected electronic departmental database identified LDP patients that would have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic at some point in their care pathway (March 2020 - February 2022). Further information was obtained from electronic patient records. Results: 139 LDP patients were listed for elective microdiscectomy at the time of postponement of elective surgery. Over a third of LDP patients (n=47, 33.8%), in shared decision with the responsible neurosurgeon, had their re-scheduled microdiscectomy cancelled due to clinical improvement (14.1%), radiological regression (6.5%) or both (12.2%). Conclusion: Our single-centre retrospective analysis revealed that for over a third of LDP patients, the prolonged post-pandemic waiting list times for elective microdiscectomy resulted in their surgery not taking place either due to spontaneous clinical improvement or proven radiological regression. Considering this, a prolonged conservative approach to LDP may be appropriate in some patients – allowing time for natural resolution, whilst avoiding perioperative risks.

show abstract

Changes in frailty among patients hospitalized for spine pathologies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany—a nationwide observational study

Dengler,

Gheewala,

Kraft

et al. 2023

Eur Spine J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Spine Surgery in Central Europe: A Questionnaire-Based Study

Cited by 4 publications

References 23 publications

Coronavirus Disease 2019 Shutdown Did Not Affect Mental Health Scores in Lumbar Decompression Patients in a Large Metropolitan Region

Coronavirus Disease 2019 Shutdown Did Not Affect Mental Health Scores in Lumbar Decompression Patients in a Large Metropolitan Region

COVID-19 and Spontaneous Resolution of Lumbar Disk Prolapse: A Retrospective Cohort Study of Patients Awaiting Microdiscectomy

Changes in frailty among patients hospitalized for spine pathologies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany—a nationwide observational study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About