• Alex M Hollenberg, David N Bernstein, Avionna L Baldwin, Michael-John Beltejar, Paul T Rubery, and Addisu Mesfin.
• Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY.
• Spine. 2020 Jan 15; 45 (2): 141-147.

Study DesignLiterature review.ObjectiveTo determine characteristics and trends in published spine research over a recent decade in a high impact, general orthopedic surgery journal.Summary Of Background DataRecent trends in published spine research in a high-impact orthopedic surgery journal are unknown. Such knowledge could guide future research in the field.MethodsA comprehensive literature review of clinical and basic science spine articles published in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery from 2006 to 2015 was conducted. Articles were assessed for: title, year of publication, authorship, academic degrees of the authors, number of citations, institution of origin, and spine topic. Clinical articles were evaluated for: sex and race/ethnicity of the human subjects, level of evidence, and inclusion of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). Basic science articles were evaluated for: type of study (animal, cadaver, cell-based), sex of the animals, cadavers or cells studied (male, female, or male and female), and presence of sex-based reporting (defined as reporting of results by sex).ResultsA total of 203 spine articles were evaluated from the 10-year study period. At least 35 validated or nonvalidated patient-reported outcome measures were utilized in clinical spine research. The most commonly reported PROMs were the Oswestry Disability Index (24.4%), Short Form-36 Health Survey (23.7%), and Visual Analog Scale for Pain (19.3%). The average level of evidence improved from 3.25 in 2006 to 2.60 in 2015. Only 13.2% of clinical spine articles reported the race/ethnicity of the subjects.ConclusionA consensus regarding validated PROMs in spine research would be valuable. From 2006 to 2015, the level of evidence of spine articles in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery improved. Accurate and complete reporting of patient demographics is an area for improvement in spine research in light of studies demonstrating sex and race/ethnicity-related differences in clinical outcome after spine surgery.Level Of Evidence5.

15 keywords...

hide…