United States’ Trends and Regional Variations in Lumbar Spine Surgery: 1992–2003

To describe recent trends and geographic variation in population-based rates of lumbar fusion spine surgery. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Lumbar fusion rates have increased dramatically during the 1980s and even more so in the 1990s. The most rapid increase appeared to follow the approval of a new surgical implant device.

Medicare claims and enrollment data were used to calculate age, sex, and race-adjusted rates of lumbar laminectomy/discectomy and lumbar fusion for fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries over age 65 in each of the 306 US Hospital Referral Regions between 1992 and 2003.