Impact of Preoperative Anemia on Outcomes in Adults Undergoing Elective Posterior Cervical Fusion

Abstract

Study Design: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. Objectives: Few studies have investigated the role of preoperative anemia on postoperative outcomes of posterior cervical fusion. This study looked to investigate the potential relationship between preoperative anemia and postoperative outcomes following posterior cervical spine fusion. Methods: Data from patients undergoing elective posterior cervical fusions between 2005 and 2012 was collected from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database using inclusion/exclusion criteria. Multivariate analyses were used to identify the predictive power of anemia for postoperative outcomes. Results: A total of 473 adult patients undergoing elective posterior cervical fusions were identified with 106 (22.4%) diagnosed with anemia preoperatively. Anemic patients had higher rates of diabetes (P =.0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists scores ≥3 (P 5 days; P