A new study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine examines how BMI affects surgical outcomes and hospital costs for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion.
The study covers 277 patients who underwent ACDF from 2008 to 2015, with 20.9 percent being normal weight, 37.5 percent being overweight and 24.9 being obese. The remaining 16.6 percent were obese-II-III. Study authors found:
1. Older patients were more likely to have a higher BMI and increased comorbidity burden when compared with younger patients.
2. The patients reported similar outcomes based on sex, smoking status, insurance type, diagnosis and preoperative Visual Analog Scale scores regardless of the BMI.
3. All patients had similar operative times, intraoperative blood loss and length of stay at the hospital. The patients also had similar complication rates, narcotic consumption, VAS score improvement, reoperation rate and arthrodesis rates regardless of BMI.
4. The costs were similar for all patients across BMI stratification.
5. Study authors concluded, "ACDF procedures are both safe and effective for all patients across the entire BMI spectrum."