Incremental Increase in Hospital Length of Stay Due to Complications of Surgery for Adult Spinal Deformity

Study Design Retrospective Cohort Study. Objectives Length of Stay (LOS) and resource utilization are of primary importance for hospital administration. This study aimed to understand the incremental effect of having a specific complication on LOS among ASD patients. Methods A retrospective examination of prospective multicenter data utilized patients without a complication prior to discharge to develop a patient-adjusted and surgery-adjusted predictive model of LOS among ASD patients. The model was later applied to patients with at least 1 complication prior to discharge to investigate incremental effect of each identified complication on LOS vs the expected LOS. Results 571/1494 (38.2%) patients experienced at least 1 complication before discharge with a median LOS of 7 IQR 5 to 9. Univariate analysis demonstrated that LOS was significantly affected by patients’ demographics (age, CCI, sex, disability, deformity) and surgical strategy (invasiveness, fusion length, posterior MIS fusion, direct decompression, osteotomy severity, IBF use, EBL, ASA, ICU stay, day between stages, Date of Sx). Using patients with at least 1 complication prior discharge and compared to the patient-and-surgery adjusted prediction, having a minor complication increased the expected LOS by 0.9 day(s), a major complication by 3.9 days, and a major complication with reoperation by 6.3 days. Conclusion Complications following surgery for ASD correction have different, but predictable impact on LOS. Some complications requiring minimal intervention are associated with significant and substantial increases in LOS, while complications with significant impact on patient quality of life may have no influence on LOS.