The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society
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Review
Level of evidence of clinical spinal research and its correlation with journal impact factor.
Over the past two decades, there has been a growing recognition and emphasis on the practice of evidence-based medicine (EBM). The level of evidence (LOE) is used to classify clinical studies based on their quality and design. To compare the quality of scientific journals, the impact factor (IF) is the most widely used ranking measure. However, the calculation of IF is not directly dependent on the quality or LOE of clinical articles published in a journal. ⋯ Spinal surgery journals with a higher IF contain a larger proportion of studies with high LOE, however most clinical articles provide level IV evidence of which the highest proportion are therapeutic studies. Clinicians, researchers, and journal editors should work hand in hand to enhance evidence-based practice in spinal care.
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Despite an increase in physician and public awareness and advances in infection control practices, surgical site infection (SSI) remains to be one of the most common complications after an operation. Surgical site infections have been shown to decrease health-related quality of life, double the risk of readmission, prolong the length of hospital stay, and increase hospital costs. ⋯ There is strong evidence in the literature that optimizing specific preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative variables can significantly lower the risk of developing an SSI.