Spine
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Systematic review and meta-analysis. ⋯ Level II.
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Prior literature has demonstrated that disparities exist in health care access and outcomes by insurance status, and patients with commercial plans fare better than those with Medicaid. However, variation may exist within commercial plans, which may impact care access. The purpose of our study was to determine the association between commercial health insurance plan type and access/time to surgery among patients with degenerative cervical conditions. ⋯ Insurance plan structure has a significant impact on incidence of and on time-to-occurrence of surgery for patients with cervical degenerative conditions. Patients with HDHP plans may experience higher costs, potentially limiting access to care.
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Retrospective Cohort Study. ⋯ A retrospective review of thoracolumbar spine injuries at our urban academic medical center identified that patients are historically treated in accordance with the proposed AO Spine Thoracolumbar Injury Classification System treatment algorithm.
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Prospective cross-sectional study. ⋯ This is the first investigation demonstrating that an accumulation of nonenzymatic collagen cross-linking product fAGEs in cortical bone is associated with increased intramuscular fat in the lumbar paraspinal musculature.