Orthostatic Hypotension Following Cervical Spine Surgery: Prevalence and Risk Factors

Retrospective case series.

This study aims to determine the prevalence and risk factors for orthostatic hypotension (OH) in patients undergoing cervical spine surgery.

Data was collected from records of 190 consecutive patients who underwent cervical spine procedures at our center over 24 months. Statistical comparison was made between patients who developed postoperative OH and those who did not by analyzing characteristics such as age, gender, premorbid medical comorbidities, functional status, mechanism of spinal cord injury, preoperative neurological function, surgical approach, estimated blood loss, and length of stay.

Twenty-two of 190 patients (11.6%) developed OH postoperatively. No significant differences in age, gender, medical comorbidities, or premorbid functional status were observed. Based on univariate comparisons, traumatic mechanism of injury (P = .002), poor ASIA (American Spinal Injury Association) grades (A, B, or C) (P < .001), and posterior surgical approach (P = .045) were found to significantly influence occurrence of OH. Among the significant variables, after adjusting for mechanism of injury and surgical approach, only ASIA grade was found to be an independent predictor. Having an ASIA grade of A, B, or C increased the likelihood of developing OH by approximately 5.978 times (P = .003).

Our study highlights that OH is not an uncommon manifestation following cervical spine surgery. Patients with poorer ASIA grades A, B, or C were more likely to have OH when compared with those with ASIA grades D or E (43.5% vs 7.2%). Hence, we suggest that postural blood pressure should be routinely monitored in this group of patients so that early intervention can be initiated.