Does Workers’ Compensation Status Affect Outcomes after Lumbar Spine Surgery? : A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Low back pain (LBP) is currently the leading cause of disability worldwide and the mostcommon reason for workers’ compensation (WC) claims. Studies have demonstrated that receivingWC is associated with a negative prognosis following treatment for a vast range of health conditions.However, the impact of WC on outcomes after spine surgery is still controversial. The aim of thismeta-analysis was to systematically review the literature and analyze the impact of compensationstatus on outcomes after lumbar spine surgery. A systematic search was performed on Medline,Scopus, CINAHL, EMBASE and CENTRAL databases. The review included studies of patientsundergoing lumbar spine surgery in which compensation status was reported. Methodologicalquality was assessed through ROBINS-I and quality of evidence was estimated using the GRADErating. A total of 26 studies with a total of 2668 patients were included in the analysis. WC patientshad higher post-operative pain and disability, as well as lower satisfaction after surgery whencompared to those without WC. Furthermore, WC patients demonstrated to have a delayed return towork. According to our results, compensation status is associated with poor outcomes after lumbarspine surgery. Contextualizing post-operative outcomes in clinical and work-related domains helpsunderstand the multifactorial nature of the phenomenon.