{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,3]],"date-time":"2026-03-03T04:15:14Z","timestamp":1772511314097,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,30]],"date-time":"2023-08-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1693353600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and objective: The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on medical practice worldwide. In this study, we aimed to investigate the trends of elective spine surgery in our department before and during the pandemic. Materials and methods: Total number of spine procedures due to disc herniation (DH) or spinal stenosis (SS) was collected during 2019\u20132021 in the Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Center Osijek, Croatia. In order to elucidate potential risk factors in the post-pandemic period, demographic data were collected for patients who underwent surgery during 2021. Results: In 2020, there was a 22.1% decrease in the number of surgeries compared to 2019 (205 vs. 263), but during 2021 we observed an increase of 36.1% compared to 2020 (279 vs. 205). The mean age of patients in 2021 was 53.14 years (53.14 \u00b1 13.05) with body mass index of 28.31 kg\/m2 (28.31 \u00b1 4.89). There were 179 overweight patients (74%) and 103 smokers (42.6%). Although male and female patients were equally represented (121 each), there was a significant interaction of weight class and sex (p = 0.013). Patients younger than 65 were more likely to undergo surgery due to DH (p &lt; 0.001), whereas older patients were more likely to suffer from SS (p &lt; 0.001). Conclusions: The volume of elective spine surgeries decreased in the first year of the pandemic and increased the following year. Our results suggest that public health policies in the early pandemic period reduced elective surgical procedures, which was followed by a compensatory increase in the following period.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina59091575","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,30]],"date-time":"2023-08-30T09:48:15Z","timestamp":1693388895000},"page":"1575","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["The COVID-19 Pandemic and Elective Spine Surgery\u2014A Single Center Experience"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"59","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7555-1155","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nenad","family":"Koruga","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Center Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Anamarija","family":"Soldo Koruga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"},{"name":"Department of Neurology, University Hospital Center Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Silva","family":"Butkovi\u0107 Soldo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"},{"name":"Department of Neurology, University Hospital Center Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Robert","family":"Ron\u010devi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"},{"name":"Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Center Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tatjana","family":"Rotim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"},{"name":"Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Center Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tajana","family":"Turk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"},{"name":"Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Center Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Domagoj","family":"Kreti\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"},{"name":"Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Center Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8003-7406","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sonja","family":"\u0160kilji\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"},{"name":"Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, University Hospital Center Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1160-163X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nenad","family":"Ne\u0161kovi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"},{"name":"Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, University Hospital Center Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4120-5737","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alen","family":"Ron\u010devi\u0107","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Center Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wunsch, K., Kienberger, K., and Niessner, C. 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