The growing burden of spine surgical wait times: a retrospective cohort study of longitudinal trends and impact on perioperative outcomes.

IF 2.2 4区医学 Q2 SURGERY

Canadian Journal of Surgery Pub Date : 2026-03-31 Print Date: 2026-03-01 DOI:10.1503/cjs.000625

Jessica C W Wang, John Street, Tamir Ailon, Michael Bond, Raphaële Charest-Morin, Nicolas Dea, Marcel Dvorak, Charles Fisher, Brian K Kwon, Scott Paquette, Charlotte Dandurand

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Surgical delays are common in public health care systems such as Canada's. Trends in wait times for elective spine surgery and their impact on outcomes remain uncharacterized.

Methods: We performed a single-centre analysis of elective spine surgery data between 2009 and 2020. We assessed wait times between referral and initial consultation (T1), consultation and surgical booking (interval wait time; Ti), and booking and surgery (T2) in terms of trends and impact on perioperative outcomes (adverse events and hospital length of stay [LOS]).

Results: In total, 2041 patients were included. Over the study period, total wait time (T1+Ti+T2) increased 5.6% annually (p < 0.001). Specifically, T1 decreased 4.8% (p < 0.001), Ti increased 14.9% (p < 0.001), and T2 increased 8.5% (p < 0.001) from year to year. The cumulative increase in total wait time was 72.4%, and the cumulative increase in Ti was 301.1% over the 10-year period. Longer total wait time and Ti were associated with increased rate of adverse events (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively) and odds of adverse events (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). Delays in all wait time intervals were associated with longer LOS (p < 0.001), with T2 having the largest effect of a 10.8% increase in LOS per 100 days of T2 (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Total wait times (T1+Ti+T2) for elective spine surgery significantly increased between 2009 and 2020. Ti showed the largest increase over the study period and was associated with a significant increase in adverse events. Future studies should investigate the impact of various efforts implemented and whether this translates to improved surgical outcomes and resource management.

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脊柱手术等待时间增加的负担：纵向趋势及其对围手术期结果影响的回顾性队列研究。

背景：手术延误是常见的公共卫生保健系统，如加拿大。择期脊柱手术的等待时间趋势及其对结果的影响尚不明确。方法：我们对2009年至2020年的选择性脊柱手术数据进行了单中心分析。我们评估了转诊和初次会诊之间的等待时间（T1）、会诊和预约手术之间的等待时间（间隔等待时间；Ti）以及预约和手术之间的等待时间（T2）对围手术期结局（不良事件和住院时间[LOS]）的趋势和影响。结果：共纳入2041例患者。在研究期间，总等待时间（T1+Ti+T2）每年增加5.6% （p < 0.001）。其中T1同比下降4.8% (p < 0.001)， Ti同比上升14.9% (p < 0.001)， T2同比上升8.5% （p < 0.001）。总等待时间累计增长72.4%，Ti累计增长301.1%。较长的总等待时间和Ti与不良事件发生率增加（分别为p < 0.001和p < 0.001）和不良事件发生率增加（分别为p < 0.001和p < 0.001）相关。所有等待时间间隔的延迟与更长的LOS相关（p < 0.001）， T2对T2的影响最大，每100天的LOS增加10.8% （p < 0.001）。结论：2009 - 2020年择期脊柱手术总等待时间（T1+Ti+T2）显著增加。在研究期间，Ti的增幅最大，并与不良事件的显著增加有关。未来的研究应调查实施的各种努力的影响，以及这是否转化为改善手术结果和资源管理。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Canadian Journal of Surgery 医学-外科

CiteScore

3.00

自引率

8.00%

发文量

120

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： The mission of CJS is to contribute to the meaningful continuing medical education of Canadian surgical specialists, and to provide surgeons with an effective vehicle for the dissemination of observations in the areas of clinical and basic science research.