The researchers examined data from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Project database and included information from 22,430 spine cases. The researchers found:
1. The overall complication rate was 9.9 percent, with the most common complications being:
• Postoperative bleeding requiring transfusion: 4.1 percent
• Non-wound infections: 3.1 percent
• Wound-related infections: 2.2 percent
2. There were 20 factors associated with complications, according to a multivariate regression analysis. The risk model was scored as follows:
• One point assessed for each risk factor
• The cohort scores were from zero to 13
• The average score was four
3. Around 3 percent of the patient with a zero to four score reported complications; 18.5 percent of the patients with five to 13 scores reported complications.
4. The risk model predicted complication rates of 1.2 percent for patients with a score of zero and 63.3 percent for patients with a 12 score. Patients with a 13 score all reported complications.
5. The risk score correlated with the total length of stay, mortality and work relative value unit for the cases strongly.
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