Table 3

Complications and health care utilization as a function of type of surgical procedure. Odds ratios and adjusted means for measures of complications and health care use are adjusted for age group, sex, race, comorbidity score, number of hospitalizations in the previous year, presence of spondylolisthesis, presence of scoliosis and previous lumbar surgery. All odds ratios use decompression alone as the reference category. All differences from decompression are statistically significant^*

Outcome	Simple fusion	Complex fusion
In-hospital cardiopulmonary or stroke complications, O.R. (95% CI)	2.64 (2.24, 3.11)	2.98 (2.51, 3.54)
Mortality within 30 days O.R. (95% CI)	1.93 (1.21, 3.08)	2.56 (1.61, 4.09)
Either of the above (“life-threatening complications”), O.R. (95% CI)	2.60 (2.21, 3.05)	2.95 (2.50, 3.49)
Wound complications, O.R. (95% CI)	1.59 (1.22, 2.08)	2.02 (1.54, 2.64) †
Length of stay, days: adjusted mean (95% CI)#	4.30 (3.62, 5.24)	4.61 (3.96, 5.59) †
Hospital charges, adjusted mean (95% CI)#	$58,511 (56,087, 64,987)	$80,888 (78,256, 87,422)†
Nursing home discharge, O.R. (95% CI)	2.70 (2.47, 2.95)	2.83 (2.57, 3.12)
Rehospitalization (any cause) within 30 days, O.R. (95% CI)	1.59 (1.44, 1.77)	1.94 (1.74, 2.17) †

^*Length of stay and total mean charges are adjusted estimates based on least squares regressions; all other presented as Odds Ratios (OR) using logistic regression.

^†Significant difference between complex and simple fusion (p<.05).

^#Reference group (decompression) mean for length of stay=2.73 days (CI 2.00, 3.68); reference group (decompression) mean for hospital charges= $23,724 (CI 21,745, 29,656)