Spinal Fusions in Active Military Personnel: Who Gets a Lumbar Spinal Fusion in the Military and What Impact Does It Have on Service Member Retention?

Discussion: This investigation reports on the largest cohort of active military personnel undergoing spinal fusion. A variety of demographic information are reviewed to clarify the picture of soldiers at risk for needing a spinal fusion. While younger age was an independent risk factors for worsened VAS scores, no independent variable portended a worse ODI score at last follow-up. Despite improvements in objective measures such as VAS, ODI, and increases in rank, soldiers going on to retirement collected a dramatic service-connected disability percentage. Level of Evidence: Level IV, Therapeutic. PMID: 30690620 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Military Medicine - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Mil Med Source Type: research