The deadliest time for many surgery patients isn't when they're on the operating table, it's while they're recovering in the hospital and after they go home, a new study suggests. Pixabay
"Many families anxiously wait to hear from the surgeon whether their loved one survived the operation, but our research demonstrates that very few of the deaths occur in the operating room," said Dr. P.J. Devereaux, senior author of the study and director of the Division of Perioperative Care at McMaster University in Canada.
"Our research now demonstrates that there is a need to focus on postoperative care and transitional care into the home setting to improve outcomes," Devereaux said by email.
Worldwide, 100 million patients age 45 and older undergo inpatient surgery unrelated to cardiac issues every year, researchers note in CMAJ.
Study details
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A wide range of technological and medical advances have made surgery safer and less invasive in recent years, the study team notes. But at the same time, patients also are coming to the hospital sicker and being sent home with complex care needs that once would have meant a lengthy hospital stay.
In the study, roughly half of the patients had high blood pressure, one in five had diabetes, and 13% had coronary artery disease.
More than one-third of them came in only for low-risk procedures that were not emergencies. Many of the rest had major general, orthopedic, urological, gynecological, vascular or neurological operations.
Patients who experienced major bleeding after surgery were more than twice as likely to die within 30 days as people who didn't have this complication.