Is Young Adult Idiopathic Scoliosis a Distinct Clinical Entity from Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis? a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Comparing Pre-Operative Characteristics and Operative Outcomes

This study aims to conduct a systematic review of the literature comparing pre-operative, intraoperative, and post-operative characteristics between adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) and young adult idiopathic scoliosis (YAdIS) patients. Following PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a search of the PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central databases to identify full-text articles in the English-language literature. Our inclusion criteria were studies that compared preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative characteristics between AIS and YAdIS patients. We performed a meta-analysis reporting mean difference (MD) for continuous variables and Odds ratios (ORs) to assess differences in postoperative complications. Seven studies consisting of 1562 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The AIS group exhibited less intraoperative bleeding and shorter surgical procedures, with a mean difference between groups of 122.3 ml (95