The influence of psychological factors on postoperative clinical outcomes in patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Purpose: The rate of lumbar spine surgeries has increased and the postoperative course is influenced not only by physical but also psychological factors. Patients with pre-existing psychological disorders appear to be more likely to develop anxiety and depression, these factors could negatively affect pain perception, disability, and quality of life. A systematic review and metanalysis were performed to determinate which psychological factors impact on spinal postoperative clinical outcomes and how it can influence postoperative clinical outcomes in patients undergoing spinal surgery. Methods: A Systematic literature review was performed on the following databases: PubMed/ MEDLINE, Scopus, Psychinfo and Web of Science on October 2022. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the ROBINS-E tool (Risk Of Bias In Non-randomized Studies - of Exposures). This review was registered at Prospero CRD42022380777. Meta-analysis was performed to compare back pain, leg pain disability, quality of life between the group of patients with psychological issues and control groups as continuous outcomes. Results: Of the identified 1756 studies, eventually 13 studies were included with a total of 5364 patients. Our results suggest that patients affected by anxiety and depression report worse back pain (MD 0.40, 95% CI 0.20 to 0.62, p = 0.0001) and disability (MD 9.58 95% CI 2.67 to 16.48, p = 0.007) levels after spine surgery than patients with healthy mental status. Instead quality of life and leg pain don’t show significant differences between the two groups. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate a correlation between presence of mental disease and the worsening of post-surgical clinical outcomes. Anxiety and depressive symptoms can influence pain and disability symptoms during the postoperative phase.