Perioperative Smoking Cessation in Elderly Chinese Undergoing Spinal Fusion

With the aging society, elderly population in China has reached 172 million (12%) in 2020 and is predicted to rise to 336 million (26%) by 2050. This will be accompanied by more elderly people with degenerative spinal diseases who may become candidates for spinal surgery (e.g., spinal fusion). Compared with younger patients, elderly patients are more likely to experience complications after spinal fusion (e.g., 9% and 14% for \<65 and ≥ 65 years old in lumbar fusion), which may lead to adverse patient outcomes including worse functional outcomes and satisfaction and increased revision surgery.

Recently, enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) program for spinal fusion including the pre-, intra-, and post-operative care interventions has been developed. Previous studies have shown that ERAS has multiple benefits for elderly undergoing spinal fusion, such as reduced complications and shorter hospital stays. However, the preoperative smoking cessation protocols varied widely between studies (e.g., at least 4 weeks, 3 months, and 2 weeks before surgery), which may be due to a lack of evidence.

Therefore, we plan to conduct a prospective study to improve the perioperative smoking cessation strategy of ERAS and establish an evidence-derived protocol.

• Length of hospital stay [Срок оценки: From the date of admission until the date of discharge or the date of death from any cause, whichever come first, assessed up to 6 months.]
• Prevalence of postoperative pain [Срок оценки: From the date of surgery until 6 months after surgery or the date of death from any cause, whichever come first.]
• Prevalence of pain-related disability [Срок оценки: From the date of surgery until 6 months after surgery or the date of death from any cause, whichever come first.]
• Level of quality of life [Срок оценки: From the date of surgery until 6 months after surgery or the date of death from any cause, whichever come first.]