Epidemiologic patterns of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis detection and treatment in new york state

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the epidemiologic trends of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) detection and treatment in New York State (NYS), including disparities in access. The New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System database was reviewed to identify patients who underwent treatment for, or were diagnosed with, AIS from 2008 to 2016. Age determined adolescence; and the surgery date, 3-digit zip code, sex, race, insurance status, institution and surgeon license number were recorded to identify such trends. The geographical distribution was assembled from an NYS shapefile, obtained from the Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing database with analysis performed using tigris R. In total 54 002 patients with AIS, 3967 of whom were surgically treated, were identified for analysis. Diagnoses spiked in 2010. Females were diagnosed and underwent surgical treatment more frequently than males. AIS was diagnosed and treated in white patients more frequently than in black and Asian patients combined. From 2010 to 2013, the patients self-paying for surgical treatment decreased more than other payment modalities. Medium-volume surgeons continually increased the number of cases performed, whereas low-volume surgeons exhibited the opposite pattern. High-volume hospitals had a decrease in the number of cases from 2012 and were overtaken by medium-volume hospitals in 2015. Most procedures are performed within the New York City (NYC) area, though AIS was common in all NYS counties. AIS diagnoses increased after 2010, with fewer patients self-paying for surgery. White patients underwent more procedures than minority patients. Surgical cases were disproportionally performed in the NYC area compared to statewide.