PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Mayo, Benjamin C.
AU  - Massel, Dustin H.
AU  - Yacob, Alem
AU  - Narain, Ankur S.
AU  - Hijji, Fady Y.
AU  - Jenkins, Nathaniel W.
AU  - Parrish, James M.
AU  - Modi, Krishna D.
AU  - Long, William W.
AU  - Hrynewycz, Nadia M.
AU  - Brundage, Thomas S.
AU  - Singh, Kern
TI  - A Review of Vitamin D in Spinal Surgery: Deficiency Screening, Treatment, and Outcomes
AID  - 10.14444/7059
DP  - 2020 Jun 01
TA  - International Journal of Spine Surgery
PG  - 7059
4099  - https://www.ijssurgery.com/content/early/2020/06/17/7059.short
4100  - https://www.ijssurgery.com/content/early/2020/06/17/7059.full
AB  - In this review, we discuss the demonstrated value of vitamin D in bone maintenance, fracture resistance, spinal health, and spine surgery outcomes. Despite this, the effect of vitamin D levels in spine surgery has not been well described. Through this review of literature, several conclusions were drawn. First, despite the fact that a high number of spine surgery patients are vitamin D deficient, screening is not commonly performed. Second, vitamin D levels will not be achieved in a majority of these patients without supplementation. Last, inadequate vitamin D levels may increase the risk of pseudarthrosis. Given these findings, we suggest that many patients undergoing spinal surgery could be treated with vitamin D supplementation prior to surgery without the need for confirmatory testing for vitamin D deficiency. This is a more cost-effective method than screening all patients. However, future randomized trials and cost-effectiveness analyses are needed to determine the ultimate effects of vitamin D supplementation on clinical morbidity and surgical outcomes.