Are Grit and Self-Control Associated with Patient-Reported Outcomes Following Spine Surgery?

Background: Grit, defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals, and self-control, defined as the capacity to regulate impulses in the presence of momentarily gratifying temptations or diversion, have shown to be predictors of professional achievement. Their role in health care outcomes is less well understood. Purpose: We sought to determine whether grit and self-control are associated with patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) following spine surgery. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of adult patients who underwent cervical or lumbar procedures by a single fellowship-trained spine surgeon between March 2017 and October 2020. We included patients who underwent anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, cervical disk replacement, minimally invasive laminectomy/laminoplasty (MI-D), or minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MI-TLIF) with minimum 1-year follow-up. Grit and self-control scores were collected 1 year after the surgery. PROMs were collected preoperatively and at 6 postoperative timepoints. Grit and self-control were compared between patients who achieved substantial clinical benefit (SCB) in either physical or mental health versus those who did not. The association between grit/self-control and change in PROMs was also assessed. Results: In the 129 patients included in the analysis, we found that patients who achieved SCB in mental health had significantly higher grit scores than those who did not. In bivariate analysis, self-control was associated with greater improvement in leg pain scores at 1-year and 2-year follow-up following an MI-D. For the MI-TLIF cohort, grit was associated with a smaller change in Short Form 12 mental component score at 6 weeks, and self-control was associated with a smaller change in Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System Physical Function at the 6-month timepoint. Grit and self-control were not associated with PROMs at other timepoints. Conclusion: This retrospective review found that grit and self-control were not significantly associated with PROMs at most postoperative timepoints in patients who underwent spine surgery.