In-hospital medical complication in older people after spine surgery: A scoping review

Worldwide, older people are suffering from lumbar degenerative disease at an annual rate of 266 million. Although spine surgeries restore mobility, reduce pain and resolve neurological damage, these procedures can place older persons at high-risk for medical complications due to multiple comorbid conditions that are often present in this population. However, the prevalence of complications occurring in older people prior to discharge is unknown. Postoperative medical complications lead to increased healthcare costs as well as pain and potential harm for the patient. Hence, this scoping review aimed to provide an overview of the current knowledge state regarding in-hospital medical postoperative complications in older people (≥65 years) after elective spine surgery.

A scoping review was conducted following Arksey and O'Malley's framework. Four databases (PubMed, Cochrane, Scopus and CINAHL) were systematically searched. Inclusion criteria were medical complication(s) after elective spine surgery prior to discharge, age ≥65 years and English language. Co-occurrence analysis was used to examine how often each complication was examined in the literature and how often the complications co-occur.

Twenty-six studies met inclusion criteria. The most frequently examined postoperative medical complications after spine surgery are delirium and urinary tract infection, followed by gastrointestinal and pulmonary embolus. Despite the list of in-hospital medical complications, definitions or criteria for measurement of any identified complication were sparse and inconsistent. There is a lack of definition or instruments to comprehensively assess medical complications incurred by older people following spine surgery, including characteristics, classification methodology and temporality. To date, no research has been conducted on how older people experience or perceive a medical complication after elective spine surgery.

The findings highlight the importance to develop comprehensive instruments to assess co-occurrence of postoperative medical complications and design interventions to mitigate the negative impacts of medical complications incurred by older people after spine surgery.