Table 1 Cohort characteristics, polypharmacy is defined as having concurrently 5 or more of top 75% of medications.
From: Polypharmacy in elective lumbar spinal surgery for degenerative conditions with 24-month follow-up
Characteristics | All | Fusion with or without decompression | Decompression without fusion | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No polypharmacy (n = 37,682) | Polypharmacy (n = 80,752) | p-value | No polypharmacy (n = 16,676) | polypharmacy (n = 44,411) | p-value | No polypharmacy (n = 30,909) | Polypharmacy (n = 64,748) | p-value | |||
Age, Median ± MAD | 52 ± 9 | 58 ± 9 | < 0.0001 | 54 ± 9 | 56 ± 8 | < 0.0001 | 52 ± 9 | 59 ± 9 | < 0.0001 | ||
Gender, Female, n (%) | 47% | 55% | < 0.0001 | 54% | 60% | < 0.0001 | 44% | 54% | < 0.0001 | ||
Insurance | Commercial, % | 71% | 57% | < 0.0001 | 64% | 60% | < 0.0001 | 73% | 55% | < 0.0001 | |
Medicaid, % | 15% | 13% | 22% | 15% | 12% | 12% | |||||
Medicare, % | 14% | 30% | 14% | 25% | 15% | 33% | |||||
Elixhauser index (# of comorbidities) | 0, % | 52% | 38% | < 0.0001 | 43% | 37% | < 0.0001 | 53% | 38% | < 0.0001 | |
1, % | 26% | 33% | 26% | 31% | 25% | 33% | |||||
2, % | 13% | 17% | 16% | 18% | 12% | 17% | |||||
3+, % | 10% | 12% | 15% | 14% | 9% | 12% | |||||
Specific Comorbidities | Anemia, % | 8% | 10% | < 0.0001 | 14% | 14% | 0.281 | 7% | 10% | < 0.0001 | |
Bleeding disorders, % | 1% | 2% | < 0.0001 | 2% | 2% | 0.5811 | 1% | 2% | < 0.0001 | ||
COPD, % | 6% | 8% | < 0.0001 | 9% | 8% | 0.6916 | 6% | 8% | < 0.0001 | ||
Diabetes, % | 12% | 20% | < 0.0001 | 15% | 19% | < 0.0001 | 11% | 21% | < 0.0001 | ||
Hypertension, % | 35% | 50% | < 0.0001 | 42% | 51% | < 0.0001 | 34% | 51% | < 0.0001 | ||
Obesity, % | 9% | 9% | 0.7933 | 11% | 10% | 0.0004 | 8% | 8% | 0.8113 | ||
Morbid Obesity, % | 4% | 5% | < 0.0001 | 5% | 6% | 0.0112 | 4% | 5% | < 0.0001 | ||
Smoking, % | 14% | 11% | < 0.0001 | 16% | 13% | < 0.0001 | 13% | 10% | < 0.0001 | ||
Weight Loss, % | 0.30% | 0.40% | 0.0365 | 0.30% | 0.40% | 0.0941 | 0.30% | 0.40% | 0.0271 | ||
Diagnosis type | Spinal stenosis, % | 30% | 41% | < 0.0001 | 34% | 39% | < 0.0001 | 31% | 45% | < 0.0001 | |
Disk herniation, % | 50% | 34% | 29% | 24% | 55% | 37% | |||||
Pertusion, % | 19% | 24% | 36% | 37% | 13% | 17% | |||||
Degeneration, % | 0.40% | 0.60% | 1% | 1% | 0% | 1% | |||||
Pre-surgery opioid use | # of opioids in 12 months | 1–11, % | 45% | 63% | < 0.0001 | 37% | 60% | < 0.0001 | 47% | 65% | < 0.0001 |
12+, % | 2% | 22% | < 0.0001 | 3% | 27% | < 0.0001 | 2% | 20% | < 0.0001 | ||
Opioid dependent, % | 0.80% | 1.40% | < 0.0001 | 1% | 2% | < 0.0001 | 0.60% | 1.20% | < 0.0001 | ||
