Zheng Gong,1,* Fengzhi Su,2,* Xiaoyu Kang,1 Yuling Zhong,1 Yubo Xie3 

1Department of Anesthesiology, The People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Anesthesiology, The People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Anesthesiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Yubo Xie, Department of Anesthesiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, 6th Shuangyong Road, Qingxiu District, Nanning, Guangxi, 530021, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-13977121557, Email xybdoctor@163.com

Background: To study the related factors of frailty and quality of life in elderly patients after spinal surgery.
Methods: The anxiety, depression, frailty, and quality of life of all patients were assessed by the Anxiety screening scale (GAD-7), Depression screening scale (PHQ-9), Frailty screening scale (FRAIL), and European five-dimensional health scale (EQ-5D-5L) 1 day before surgery (DAY-0). A numeric rating scale (NRS) was used to evaluate patients’ pain during activities on the 1st day (POD-1), 3rd day (POD-3), and 30th day (POD-30) after operation. FRAIL scale and EQ-5D-5L were used to evaluate patients’ frailty and quality of life on POD-30 and 90th day (POD-90) after the operation.
Results: There were significant differences in age, body mass index (BMI), preoperative serum albumin level (ALB), and NRS score on POD-1 between the two groups (P< 0.05). Age and PHQ-9 score were positively correlated with EQ-5D-5L score (P< 0.05, r Age=0.245, rPHQ-9=0.217), and preoperative ALB level was negatively correlated with EQ-5D-5L score (P< 0.05, r ALB=− 0.274).
Conclusion: The older the age, the larger the BMI and the higher the NRS score on the first day after surgery, the more prone to frailty in elderly patients after spinal surgery; The older age and the lower the preoperative ALB level, the worse the quality of life in elderly patients after spinal surgery.

Keywords: elderly patients, spinal surgery, frailty, quality of life