The Short-Term Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Spine Surgeons: A cross sectional global study

Abstract

Purpose: The outbreak of COVID-19 erupted in December 2019 in Wuhan-China. In a few weeks it progressed rapidly into a global pandemic which resulted in an overwhelming burden on health care systems, medical resources and staff.Spine surgeons as health care providers are no exception. In this study we try to highlight the impact of the crisis on spine surgeons in terms of knowledge, attitude, practice and socioeconomic BurdenMethods: This was global, multi-centric cross-sectional study on 781 spine surgeons that utilized an internet-based validated questionnaire to evaluate knowledge about COVID-19, availability of personal protective equipment (PEE), future perceptions, effect of this crisis on practice and psychological distress. Univariate and multivariate ordinal logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the predictors for the degree of COVID-19 effect on practice. Results: Overall, 20.2%, 52%, and 27.8% of the participants were affected minimally, intermediately, and hugely by COVID-19, respectively. Older ages (β= 0.33, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.56), orthopedic spine surgeons (β=0.30, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.61) and those who work in the private sector (β=0.05, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.61) were the most affected by COVID-19. Those who work in university hospitals (β=-0.36, 95% CI 0.00 to -0.71) were affected the least. The availability of N95 masks (47%) and disposable eye protectors or face shields (39.4%) was significantly associated with lower psychological stress (p=0.01). Only (6.9%), (3.7%), and (5%) had mild, moderate and severe mental distress, respectively.Conclusion: While it is important to recognize the short-term impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the practice of spine surgery, predicting where we will be standing in 6-12 months remains difficult and unknown. The COVID-19 crisis will probably have an unexpected long-term impact on lives and economies.

Commentary on “History of Spinal Neurosurgery and Spine Societies”

“…A recent paper on the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (CO-VID-19) pandemic on spine surgeons worldwide used a specific questionnaire including demographic information that was submitted to the surgeons, and showed that the majority of participants were spine surgeons from Egypt with detailed data revealing a higher number of orthopedic surgeons compared to neurosurgeons. 3 Apart from the spine chapter in the Egyptian orthopedic Association and the spine chapter in the Egyptian society of neurological surgeons, Egypt has two big spine societies and a simple search on Google engine with the following keywords "Egypt, " "Spine, " "Scoliosis, " "Society" would reveal them. The Egyptian spine Association (ESA), as it was mentioned in the study, that was founded in 2011 by orthopedic and neurosurgery leaders in Egypt, it has been having regular scientific activities 4 and annual meetings in collaboration with international societies since 2012 until the last one in 2020 in the hybrid form given the CO-VID-19 pandemic, with no interruption in its activities contrary to what was mentioned in the study, in fact the meetings calendar on the ESA website clearly demonstrate the aforementioned statement (http://esa.org.eg/meetings_calendar.asp).…”