title: Impact of advancing age on post-operative complications of deep brain stimulation surgery for essential tremor.
abstract: Essential tremor (ET) was the original indication for deep brain stimulation (DBS), with USA Food and Drug Administration approval since 1997. Despite the efficacy of DBS, it is associated with surgical complications that cause sub-optimal clinical outcomes. Given that ET is a progressive disease with increase in symptom severity with increasing age, this study evaluated the impact of increasing age on short-term complications following DBS surgery for ET. The Thomson-Reuters MarketScan database was utilized (New York, NY, USA). Patients selected were over age 18 and underwent DBS for ET between the years 2000 and 2009. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to calculate complication odds ratios (OR) for a 5 year increase in age, after controlling for other covariates. Six hundred sixty-one patients were included in the analysis. The mean (standard deviation) age was 61.9 (14.3) years, with 17% of individuals aged ⩾75 years. Overall 56.9% of patients were male, and 44.6% had a Charlson Comorbidity Score of ⩾1. Additionally, 7.1% of patients experienced at least one complication within 90 days, including wound infections (3.0%), pneumonia (2.4%), hemorrhage or hematoma (1.5%), or pulmonary embolism (0.6%). Increasing age was not significantly associated with the overall 90 day complication rates (OR 0.89; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.77-1.02; p=0.102). The risk of the two most common procedure-related complications, hemorrhage and infection, did not significantly increase with age (hemorrhage: OR 1.02; 95%CI 0.77-1.37; p=0.873; and infection: OR 0.88; 95%CI 0.72-1.07; p=0.203). Our findings suggest that age should not be a primary exclusion factor for determining candidacy for DBS and also suggest a possible expansion of the traditional therapeutic window since post-operative complications remained relatively stable.
authors: Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
authors: Terence
authors: T
authors: Verla
authors: Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3807, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
authors: Andrew
authors: A
authors: Marky
authors: Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
authors: Harrison
authors: H
authors: Farber
authors: Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
authors: Frank W
authors: FW
authors: Petraglia
authors: Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors: John
authors: J
authors: Gallis
authors: Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors: Yuliya
authors: Y
authors: Lokhnygina
authors: Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
authors: Beth
authors: B
authors: Parente
authors: Department of Neurology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
authors: Patrick
authors: P
authors: Hickey
authors: Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3807, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
authors: Dennis A
authors: DA
authors: Turner
authors: Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3807, Durham, NC 27710, USA. Electronic address: nandan.lad@dm.duke.edu.
authors: Shivanand P
authors: SP
authors: Lad
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D020329:Essential Tremor / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006406:Hematoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Age; Complications; Deep brain stimulation; Essential tremor