Ganocy TK, Royse K, Prentice H, et al. - This study was undertaken to investigate if there is a variation in the risk of adverse postoperative outcomes following elective lumbar spinal fusion for octogenarians compared to patients aged 50-79. Researchers performed a retrospective cohort study applying integrated health care data from the Kaiser Permanente Spine Registry including a total of 8,340 patients aged ≥ 50 who had undergone primary elective lumbar spinal fusion (L1-S1) for degenerative or deformity-related spinal disorders (2009-2018). There was no difference in the risk of reoperation, infection, or deep vein thrombosis when comparing octogenarians to their younger counterparts in a cohort of > 8,000 elective lumbar fusion patients. Nevertheless, the higher risk of intraoperative durotomy, 90-day PE, and 90-day readmission implies closer intra- and postoperative surveillance may be warranted for these older individuals. When compared to patients aged 50-79, a higher mortality risk for octogenarians was observed; this risk did not change between 90 days and 2 years, implying the increased risk is unrelated to undergoing a lumbar fusion and more likely the age groups compared in this study.