Factors Associated with Postoperative Rehospitalization in Patients with Cervical Disc Herniation

Abstract

Cervical disc herniation (CDH) is a prevalent disease because of the poor living habits of and great pressure in modern society. Patients experience hand numbness, neck stiffness, soreness, and weakness due to neck nerve root compression, which leads to a gradual increase of neurosurgery outpatients. Although poor posture by the overuse of computers is possibly the origin of CDH, analysis of related factors causing the rehospitalization for CDH patients after surgery in Taiwan is not commonly reported. Thus, the present study focused on the demographics and surgery-related treatment on the relevance of rehospitalization for CDH patients after surgery. The design of the study was retrospective, and we collected data by medical record review, which was derived from the inpatient surgery data of patients at a medical center in southern Taiwan. The study lasted two years from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2018, and a total of 248 patients underwent surgery for intervertebral disc protrusion in the neck. The retrospective study adopted narrative statistics, the chi-squared test, and binary logistic regression analysis to identify factors affecting postoperative rehospitalization. Among 248 postoperative patients with intervertebral disc protrusion, 178 underwent cervical fusion surgery, and 32 were rehospitalized after surgery for one-year follow up, accounting for an overall prevalence rate of 12.9%. There were no significant differences in sex, age, occupation, hypertension, anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, artificial disc replacement, hybrid surgery, and postoperative cervical coil use (p > 0.05). The results of binary logistic regression analysis showed statistically significant differences in abnormal body mass index (p = 0.0187, 95% CI = 1.238–10.499), diabetes (p = 0.0137, 95% CI = 1.288–9.224) and cervical vertebral surgery hospital days (p = 0.0004, 95% CI = 1.028–1.102), predicting the outcome of rehospitalization for CDH patients after surgery. The above results showed that abnormal body mass index, diabetes, and cervical vertebral surgery hospitalization days impacted rehospitalization in CDH patients after surgery. Thus, to prevent diabetes, weight control must be monitored, and maintaining correct posture can reduce CDH and decrease the rate of rehospitalization after surgery, which provides a critical reference for hospital managers and clinical staff.