Growing rates of substance abuse disorders may have triggered a significant increase in the incidence of spinal infections in discharged patients in Washington, according to a study in Spine.
Three things to know:
1. The study authors assessed Washington State Comprehensive Hospital Abstract Reporting System data over a 15-year period, searching for all conditions regarded as spinal infection as well as major known infection-related risk factors.
2. Researchers found the proportion of spinal infections among discharged patients has increased approximately 40 percent since 2012.
3. When the study authors analyzed spinal infection-related risk factors, they found that the rate of substance use disorders and malnutrition had changed the most, with drug dependence increasing threefold during the examined period.