A new study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine examines whether mental health status is a predictor of improvement in patient reported outcomes after spinal fusion.
The study authors prospectively maintained a database of patients who underwent one and two level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion from 2014 to 2015. There were 52 patients included in the study. The researchers found:
1. The patients with higher preoperative SF-12 Mental Component Summary scores were negatively associated with lower Neck Disability Index scores and arm visual analog scale scores before surgery. There was no association between these patients and preoperative neck VAS and SF-12 PCS scores.
2. There wasn't an association between the MCS score before surgery and improved NDI, neck VAS, arm VAS or SF-12 PCS scores during any time postoperatively.
3. The patients with the bottom and top MCS scores had similar percentages of patients achieving minimum clinically important difference six months after surgery.
4. The study authors reported their findings suggest "better preoperative mental health status is associated with lower perceived preoperative disability but is not associated with severity of preoperative neck or arm pain."
5. This study differs from other studies on the matter, as the researchers did not demonstrate preoperative mental health was a predictor of patient-reported outcomes.