Impact of educational background on preoperative disease severity and postoperative outcomes among patients with lumbar spondylolisthesis: a Quality Outcomes Database study.
Nitin AgarwalAndrew K ChanErica F BissonSteven D GlassmanKevin T FoleyChristopher I ShaffreyOren N GottfriedLuis M TumialánEric A PottsMark E ShaffreyDomagoj CoricJohn J KnightlySufyan IbrahimRida MithaGiorgos MichalopoulosPaul ParkMichael Y WangKai-Ming FuJonathan R SlotkinAnthony L AsherMichael S VirkJian GuanRegis W HaidDean ChouMohamad BydonPraveen V MummaneniPublished in: Journal of neurosurgery. Spine (2024)
Lower patient education level was associated with a greater baseline disease severity in patients with lumbar spondylolisthesis. Surgery demonstrated similar benefits irrespective of educational background; however, individuals with lower educational level reported lower outcomes overall. This emphasizes the need for enhanced health literacy to mitigate disparities for reported outcomes.