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Reduced Complications and Improved Survival With Postoperative GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Use Following Lumbar Arthrodesis

Proffitt, Emma B
Rice, Samuel W
Schiedo, Ryan M
Stauff, Michael P
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Abstract

Study DesignRetrospective propensity-score-matched cohort study.ObjectivesTo evaluate whether postoperative glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) use is associated with fewer complications, lower pseudarthrosis, and improved survival after lumbar fusion in adults aged 50 years and older.MethodsThe TriNetX Global Collaborative Network was queried to identify adults ≥50 years who underwent lumbar arthrodesis (2010-2025). GLP-1 RA exposure was defined as an active prescription within 1 to 90 days postoperatively. The comparison group consisted of patients without a GLP-1 RA prescription during this window. Propensity score matching adjusted for demographics, BMI, hemoglobin A1c, preoperative GLP-1 RA use, and comorbidities. Outcomes: 90-day and 1-year infectious, pulmonary, and thromboembolic complications, 1-year pseudarthrosis, and 1-year mortality rates. Survival was assessed with Kaplan Meier and Cox regression.ResultsAmong 169 286 patients who underwent lumbar arthrodesis, 1844 had postoperative GLP-1 RA use and 167 442 did not. After matching, 1816 patients remained in each cohort. Postoperative GLP-1 RA use was associated with lower 90-day pneumonia (Risk Ratio [RR] 0.51), surgical site infection (RR 0.58), sepsis (RR 0.64), urinary tract infection (RR 0.56), wound dehiscence (RR 0.46), and venous thromboembolism (RR 0.54) (all < 0.05), and 1-year lower hazard of death (HR 0.38; = 0.018).ConclusionIn this large propensity-score-matched cohort, postoperative GLP-1 RA use was associated with fewer early infectious, pulmonary, wound, and thromboembolic complications and improved 1-year survival after lumbar spinal fusion.

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Proffitt EB, Rice SW, Schiedo RM, Stauff MP. Reduced Complications and Improved Survival With Postoperative GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Use Following Lumbar Arthrodesis. Global Spine J. 2026 Apr 13:21925682261442187. doi: 10.1177/21925682261442187. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41974096; PMCID: PMC13076474.

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10.1177/21925682261442187
PubMed ID
41974096
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Creative Commons Non Commercial No Derivs CC BY-NC-ND: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work as published without adaptation or alteration, without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).