Exercise-Induced Central Fatigue: Biomarkers, and Non-Medicinal Interventions.

Fatigue, commonly experienced in daily life, is a feeling of extreme tiredness, shortage or lack of energy, exhaustion, and difficulty in performing voluntary tasks. Central fatigue, defined as a progressive failure to voluntarily activate the muscle, is typically linked to moderate- or light-intensity exercise. However, in some instances, high-intensity exercise can also trigger the onset of central fatigue. Exercise-induced central fatigue often precedes the decline in physical performance in well-trained athletes. This leads to a reduction in nerve impulses, decreased neuronal excitability, and an imbalance in brain homeostasis, all of which can adversely impact an athlete's performance and the longevity of their sports career. Therefore, implementing strategies to delay the onset of exercise-induced central fatigue is vital for enhancing athletic performance and safeguarding athletes from the debilitating effects of fatigue. In this review, we discuss the structural basis, measurement methods, and biomarkers of exercise-induced central fatigue. Furthermore, we propose non-pharmacological interventions to mitigate its effects, which can potentially foster improvements in athletes' performances in a healthful and sustainable manner.

Effect of Lateral Surgery Compared with Posterior Surgery on Lumbar Degenerative Disease: A Meta-Analysis of 41 Cohort Studies.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of the lateral approach and posterior approach in the treatment of lumbar degenerative diseases. METHODS: Through a systematic search of relevant articles published on or before July 20, 2023, in the Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane libraries, the 2 authors independently extracted data and used the Newcastle‒Ottawa scale to evaluate the quality of the included studies. Using Stata16 software, the continuous variables were presented as the standard mean deviation, and the bipartite variables were analyzed using the pooled odds ratio with 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: A total of 13,892 articles were screened and 10,908 studies were identified after deleting duplicates, of which 41 met the criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis showed that the lateral approach was superior to the posterior approach in reducing blood loss, operation time, and hospital stay. At the same time, compared with the posterior approach, the lateral approach has more advantages in the long-term Japanese Orthopaedic Association score and Oswestry Disability Index score, adjusting mid- and long-term LL and short- and long-term disc height. CONCLUSIONS: Lateral and posterior surgery have similar clinical effects in the treatment of lumbar degenerative diseases and can significantly reduce pain and improve postoperative SL. At the same time, the lateral approach has more advantages in improving long-term quality of life, reducing the long-term disability index, adjusting mid- and long-term LL and short- and long-term disc height.

Risk factors of postoperative delirium following spine surgery: A meta-analysis of 50 cohort studies with 1.1 million participants.

Objectives: Postoperative delirium (POD) is considered to be a common complication of spine surgery. Although many studies have reported the risk factors associated with POD, the results remain unclear. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to identify risk factors for POD among patients following spinal surgery. Methods: We systematically searched the PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library for relevant articles published from 2006 to February 1, 2023 that reported risk factors associated with the incidence of POD among patients undergoing spinal surgery. The Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) guidelines were followed, and random effects models were used to estimate pooled odds ratio (OR) estimates with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for each factor. The evidence from observational studies was classified according to Egger's P value, total sample size, and heterogeneity between studies. Results: Of 11,329 citations screened, 50 cohort studies involving 1,182,719 participants met the inclusion criteria. High-quality evidence indicated that POD was associated with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, older age (>65 years), patients experiencing substance use disorder (take drug ≥1 month), cerebrovascular disease, kidney disease, neurological disorder, parkinsonism, cervical surgery, surgical site infection, postoperative fever, postoperative urinary tract infection, and admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). Moderate-quality evidence indicated that POD was associated with depression, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) fitness grade (>II), blood transfusion, abnormal potassium, electrolyte disorder, length of stay, inability to ambulate and intravenous fluid volume. Conclusions: Conspicuous risk factors for POD were mainly patient- and surgery-related. These findings help clinicians identify high-risk patients with POD following spinal surgery and recognize the importance of early intervention.

Risk factors of epidural hematoma in patients undergoing spinal surgery: a meta-analysis of 29 cohort studies.

OBJECTIVE: The authors conducted this meta-analysis to identify risk factors for spinal epidural haematoma (SEH) among patients following spinal surgery. METHODS: The authors systematically searched Pub: Med, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for articles that reported risk factors associated with the development of SEH in patients undergoing spinal surgery from inception to 2 July 2022. The pooled odds ratio (OR) was estimated using a random-effects model for each investigated factor. The evidence of observational studies was classified as high quality (Class I), moderate quality (Class II or III) and low quality (Class IV) based on sample size, Egger's P value and between-study heterogeneity. In addition, subgroup analyses stratified by study baseline characteristics and leave-one-out sensitivity analyses were performed to explore the potential sources of heterogeneity and the stability of the results. RESULTS: Of 21 791 articles screened, 29 unique cohort studies comprising 150 252 patients were included in the data synthesis. Studies with high-quality evidence showed that older patients (≥60 years) (OR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.03-1.77) were at higher risk for SEH. Studies with moderate-quality evidence suggested that patients with a BMI greater than or equal to 25 kg/m² (OR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.10-1.76), hypertension (OR, 1.67; 95% CI, 1.28-2.17), and diabetes (OR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.01-1.55) and those undergoing revision surgery (OR, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.15-3.25) and multilevel procedures (OR, 5.20; 95% CI, 2.89-9.37) were at higher risk for SEH. Meta-analysis revealed no association between tobacco use, operative time, anticoagulant use or American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification and SEH. CONCLUSIONS: Obvious risk factors for SEH include four patient-related risk factors, including older age, obesity, hypertension and diabetes, and two surgery-related risk factors, including revision surgery and multilevel procedures. These findings, however, must be interpreted with caution because most of these risk factors had small effect sizes. Nonetheless, they may help clinicians identify high-risk patients to improve prognosis.