Does ventilator use status correlate with quality of life in patients with early-onset scoliosis treated with rib-based growing system implantation?

PURPOSE: Pulmonary function and quality of life (QOL) are important outcome measures for patients with early-onset scoliosis (EOS) undergoing rib-based growing system (RBGS) implantation. The Assisted Ventilation Rating (AVR) measures ventilator requirements in this population. A higher, more severe, score implies negative changes in QOL. The EOS Questionnaire (EOSQ) is a validated outcome measure. Paired measurements for both ratings were compared to clarify correlation between ventilator status and QOL. Secondary analysis aimed at defining QOL between more broad subgroups defined by ventilator use. METHODS: AVR and EOSQ scores were extracted from the Pediatric Spine Study Group database for patients 10 years of age and under. Instances were excluded if the time between AVR and EOSQ assessment was greater than 6 months. Scores were compared using Spearman correlation coefficient. Subgroup analysis included control for age, gender, and etiology. Secondary analysis was performed for broad functional grouping using ranked analysis of variance for repeated measures using median scores. RESULTS: Two thousand five hundred and forty-two instances of paired EOSQ and AVR in 329 patients were analyzed. A statistically significant weak correlation between AVR and EOSQ was identified in Child's Health Related QOL and Family Impact sections, in nine subsets. Subgroup analysis showed little variation, except increased correlation in female patients to near moderate level. Analysis of variance for demonstrated decreased medians for all subdomains when comparing those mechanically ventilated to patients who did not require ventilation. CONCLUSION: Ventilator status tracks with QOL were measured by EOSQ. A more severe AVR is negatively correlated with most domains of the EOSQ for patients with EOS who have undergone RBGS implantation. The strength of this correlation is weak, and so AVR alone may be insufficient to precisely determine QOL in this population. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level-III, Retrospective.

Increasing hospital admissions for patellar instability: a national database study from 2004 to 2017.

Objectives: Epidemiology of patellar instability is not fully characterized, as some studies have produced conflicting information or been drawn from limited populations. In this study, we used the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database to examine trends in admissions for patellar instability throughout the United States. We hypothesized that there would be an increasing rate of patellar instability admissions in recent years. Secondarily, we examined how demographic factors and insurance status relate to admissions for patellar instability.Methods: This study queried the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS). Patients with ICD 9 & 10 codes 8363, 8364, 71,785, M221.0, S83.001, S83.002, S83.003, S83.004, S83.005, and S83.006, were abstracted from PHIS. We included all patients admitted with patellofemoral dislocations that were reported in the PHIS database between 1 January 2004 and 30 April 2017. The rate of patellar instability admissions was examined as well as demographic factors and insurance status.Results: An estimated total of 25,413 admissions for patellar instability were identified by the search of the PHIS database; 15,444 (60.8%) were female patients and 9,966 (39.2%) were male. The adjusted number of admissions per reporting hospital significantly increased over the years studied (r = 0.775, p < 0.001), from 14.5 admissions per reporting hospital in 2004 to 86.0 admissions per reporting hospital in 2016. Of all patellar instability admissions, 55.0% were white, 20.4% were black, 1.7% were Asian, and 22.9% were unknown race. A larger number of admissions occurred in patients with insurance status other than Medicaid in every year data were collected.Conclusions: Based on a PHIS database search, pediatric hospital admissions for patellar instability are steadily increasing. The majority of patients admitted for patellar instability are female, white, and have insurance other than Medicaid. Males admitted for patellar instability tended to be older than females admitted for the same.Level of evidence: II.