Sociodemographic and health characteristics for patients who underwent surgery for far lateral lumbar disc herniation.
| Variable | Open (n = 92; 63.9%) | Endoscopic (n = 52; 36.1%) | P Value |
| Gender, n (%) | |||
| Men | 51 (55.4%) | 24 (46.2%) | 0.28 |
| Women | 41 (44.6%) | 28 (53.9%) | |
| Race, n (%) | |||
| Black | 6 (6.5%) | 5 (9.6%) | 0.74 |
| White, non-Hispanic/Latino | 81 (88.0%) | 45 (86.5%) | |
| Hispanic/Latino | 2 (2.2%) | 0 (0%) | |
| All other | 3 (3.3%) | 2 (3.9%) | |
| Age, mean (SD) | 60.24 (11.36) | 64.35 (11.42) | 0.039 |
| Insurance type, n (%) | |||
| Commercial | 6 (6.5%) | 4 (7.7%) | 0.73 |
| Medicare | 33 (35.9%) | 25 (48.1%) | |
| Medicaid | 1 (1.1%) | 1 (1.9%) | |
| Managed care | 41 (44.6%) | 18 (34.6%) | |
| Blue Cross | 10 (1.1%) | 4 (7.7%) | |
| Worker’s compensation | 1 (1.1%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Body mass index, mean (SD) | 28.37 (4.89) | 28.71 (4.70) | 0.68 |
| Median household income, $, mean (SD) | 78,807 (27,785) | 77,356 (25,515) | 0.76 |
| Number of prior surgical interventions, mean (SD) | |||
| Ever | 0.73 (1.43) | 1.56 (1.59) | <0.001 |
| Within 30 d of the index operation | 0.087 (0.32) | 0.17 (0.38) | 0.08 |
Note: Bolded values denote statistically significant difference (P < 0.05).