A study recently published in Spine examines the in-hospital outcomes for patients who undergo spinal fusion and have HIV.
The researchers examined data from the US Nationwide Inpatient Sample between 2000 and 2009. Here are six trends in spine surgery for HIV patients based on their research:
1. There were 5,070 spinal fusions for HIV-positive patients in the United States from 2000 to 2009.
2. The number of HIV-positive patients undergoing spinal fusions increased three-fold.
3. HIV-positive patients have significantly higher respiratory complication rates — 6.2 percent compared with 2.3 percent in non-HIV patients.
4. The wound complication rate for HIV-positive patients is 2.7 percent versus 1.7 percent in non-HIV patients.
5. In-hospital complication rates are also higher for HIV-positive patients, at 12.2 percent, compared with 9.5 percent for non-HIV patients.
6. In-hospital mortality rate was 1.6 percent for HIV-positive patients; significantly higher than the 0.3 percent of non-HIV patients. After controlling for other factors, the in-hospital mortality rate was 3.53 times higher for the HIV-positive patients.