The influence of peri-operative depressive symptoms on medium-term spine surgery outcome: a prospective study

Pablo Bellosta-López, Filippo Mandelli, Francesco Langella, Marco Brayda-Bruno, Roberto Bassani, Riccardo Cecchinato, Domenico Compagnone, Fabrizio Giudici, Andrea Luca, Carlotta Morselli, Laura Scaramuzzo, Daniele Vanni, Matteo Ponzo, Pedro Berjano

October 2023, Volume 32, Issue 10, pp 3394 - 3402 Original Article Read Full Article

First Online: 08 August 2023

Purpose

To investigate the role of depressive symptoms on clinical outcomes in patients undergoing spinal surgery up to 2-year follow-up.

Methods

The study used data from an institutional spine surgery registry (January 2016, through March 2022) to identify patients (> 18 years) undergoing spine surgery. Patients with Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) 35). The ODI and MCS scores trajectory were wined over the 24-month post-surgery between groups. Additionally, a secondary subgroup analysis was conducted comparing outcomes between those with depressive symptoms (persistent-depression subgroup) and those without depressive symptoms (never-depression subgroup) at 3 months after surgery.

Results

A total of 2164 patients who underwent spine surgery were included. The pre-operative depression group reported higher ODI total scores and lower MCS than the pre-operative non-depression group at all time points (P

Conclusion

Functional disability and mental health status improve in patients with depression symptoms undergoing spinal surgery. Despite this improvement, they do not reach the values of non-depressed subjects. Over the 2-year follow-up time, patients with depression show a different trajectory of ODI and MCS. Caregivers should be aware of these results to counsel patients with depression symptoms.

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