New publication in Surgical Technology International by ICSUS Fellow, Rifat Latifi, MD
Delayed Operation Increases Mortality in Emergency Surgery -A decade of research and more than 30 studies, summarized across 6.8 million patients
This paper is the culmination of nearly ten years of our group's work on this subject — a summary and synthesis of more than 30 individual studies we have published on time-to-operation and mortality across the spectrum of emergency general surgery.
Analyzing 6,805,380 emergency general surgery admissions from the National Inpatient Sample, we found that time-to-operation is a modifiable predictor of in-hospital mortality. Each day of surgical delay increased mortality odds by up to 13.5% in adults and 9.3% in the elderly, including among patients with no recorded comorbidities. Frailty amplified risk, while timely operative management was consistently protective across the full spectrum of EGS diagnoses.
When surgery is indicated, system-related delays adversely affect outcomes. These population-level findings lend further support to the American College of Surgeons and American Association for the Surgery of Trauma initiative to establish dedicated emergency general surgery services.
With thanks to my co-author, Dr. Abbas Smiley, and to the students, residents, fellows and several faculties from Westchester Medical Center and New York Medical College in NY, whose over the years made this body of research possible.
#EmergencyGeneralSurgery #AcuteCareSurgery #SurgicalOutcomes #Frailty #HealthServicesResearch
Click the following link to download a PDF of the entire paper.