The correlation of psoriasis and its treatment medications with lumbar discectomy postoperative infections

Abstract

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Psoriasis is a chronic, autoimmune disease of the skin that affects approximately 3% of the US adult population. Patients with psoriasis may be predisposed to spine surgical site infections (SSI) related to the condition and/or related medications following surgeries such as lumbar laminotomy/discectomy. PURPOSE: To assess the potential correlation of psoriasis and its related treatment medications on the risk of infection-related complications after lumbar laminotomy/discectomy. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective case control, national administrative database study. PATIENT SAMPLE: Adult patients who underwent isolated single-level lumbar discectomy between 2010 and Q1 of 2021 were identified in the PearlDiver Mariner Ortho151 national administrative database (excluding those with concurrent diagnoses of fractures, neoplasms, or infections). OUTCOME MEASURES: Ninety-day postoperative rates of surgical site infection and sepsis. METHODS: Lumbar laminotomy/discectomy patients with versus without psoriasis were matched 1:4 based on age, sex, and Elixhauser Comorbidity Index. The risk of SSI and sepsis in the 90-day postoperative window between the cohorts were compared with multivariable analyses. Five-year reoperation rates were also compared with log rank test. The matched psoriasis cohort was further subdivided by psoriasis treatment regimens – no medication treatment (NT), topical therapies only (TT), topical therapies with oral systemic treatments (TT/OS), and topical therapies with biologics (TT/B). Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the risk of SSI and sepsis within 90 days after lumbar laminotomy/discectomy for each treatment subgroup compared to patients without psoriasis. RESULTS: In total, 2,262 patients with psoriasis who underwent single-level lumbar laminotomy/discectomy were identified and matched by age, sex, and Elixhauser Comorbidity Index to 9,044 patients without psoriasis. Multivariable logistic regression showed that, compared to the patients without psoriasis, patients with psoriasis had a 1.795 times higher chance of developing SSI (odds ratio [OR]) (p