Perioperative risk factors related to complications of lumbar spine fusion surgery in elderly patients

To analyze the perioperative risk factors related to lumbar spine fusion surgery in elderly patients. 202 elderly patients (age range 77-92 years old) who have underwent lumbar spinal fusion surgeries between January 2019 and June 2021 were retrospectively investigated. Information of age, sex, comorbidity, fixation segments, operation time, surgical blood loss and perioperative complications during hospitalization were collected. Risk factors for complications were analyzed. Student's t-test, chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U‑test and multivariate generalized linear models were used. In this study, 31 patients presented complications (15.3%) in these elderly patients with an average age of 79.1 years, including 1 patient with intraoperative complication and 30 patients with postoperative complications; and 2 out of 31 patients (1%) died. The elderly patients were divided into group A (24 patients) with major postoperative complications and group B (178 patients) without major postoperative complications. Major postoperative complications were significantly associated with age (univariate analysis, t = 3.92, P